Wednesday, January 09, 2008

The Poet


I have not, so far, been lucky enough to find a life mate. However, I have had a number of affair de coeur's. Several with poets.

I knew of Mort when I was in college but never met him. Many years later we began a correspondence and he would send me poems written on scraps of paper in almost every letter. Mort died ten years ago. Some of his poems have been gathered into chapbooks. Here is one:

In the Morning, After coffee, I re-read Letters

My hand holds firm
To the hand I have not held,
I stroke the air and give it
Her face, am the wanton
This bright morning. In darkness,
I will write, send
Confused erotica
along our slim tether.

By Mort Krahling 9/15/93

16 comments:

Cris, Artist in Oregon said...

What a treasure you have from your now deceased Friend Mort. Peoms hand writen from him. Such a nice thing they have done by gathering his work together in books.

Anonymous said...

Good memories to have :-)

Cris, Artist in Oregon said...

Oops..Well it seems my fingers dont want to follow my brain this morning. POEMS AND WRITTEN are correct spellings .. or scary yet maybe my fingers ARE following my brain this morning.. OH NO..LOL

Mary Richmond said...

what a sweet and sad remembrance all wrapped in a scrap of paper and held in the heart all these years

Anonymous said...

awakens the buds
and the old loves--
as enters
spring

human being said...

At last! During these past 2-3 hours I tried hard but could not open the commenting window... It was so in all the blogs in Blogger even my own blog!
Okay now I'm here to pour out my emotions !

human being said...

Suki, how blessed you were and you are to have such a great poet as a close friend.And how sad he is not alive 'in his body'...though immortal through his beautiful poems.
The network of images build a bigger image of an unfulfilled, unrealized love. Am I right?

Holding to the hand i have not held...stroking the air...confused erotica ... slim tether...

It touches my heart so deeply...
I'll be more than happy to read more...

human being said...

Love is a magic wand
Converting distances into a bond.

Lynn Cohen said...

Lovely poem Suki. A love affair of the heart with a poet is a wonderful thing I can only imagine.
I'm happy that you had this, this friendship and this connection.

I feel honored that you shared this here.

sukipoet said...

thank you all for the comments. Yes, Cris Mort gave me and the world a beautiful gift through his poems. He was very poor, and often exchanged a poems for small purchases in his local stores where folks knew him. He would often send me photos of things he'd like to give me but couldnt afford. But always a poem.

Myla thank you for your spring poem. Maybe that is why Mort came to my mind. That awakening feeling tht spring brings.

britt thank you for stopping by my blog. Good memories is true.

Mary your response is poetic too. "remembrance wrapped in a scrap of paper and held in the heart." Lovely thought.

hb your two line poem is wonderful. Mort and I lived 500 miles apart and we did meet a few times both where he lived and where I lived.

At one point i and he hoped we would even get married but that didn't work out. :(

marianne said...

see you can pet your own cat now ;-)
Thanks foor your comments on my blog !

Elizabeth said...

How cool are you! Affairs d'coeur indeed, such romantic treasures and adventure. Truely beautiful!

Honoured that you share this with us, thank you! :-)

Blessings to you.

human being said...

Hi, Suki,.
Thanks. I really enjoy reading his poem each time I'm here. As other friends said, I really feel honored you shared this..
Have you written about this in your books? Are your books novels?
Such emotions .. such love afairs are so painful and at the same time beautiful..
And this pain is usually the starting point of art... like the tiny gravel entering a shell during a storm... and the shell producing a pearl out of it...just to avoid the pain, to protect itself... but we are just amazed and enthraled to watch that beauty.... I've always believed true art (of any type) is sacred...

human being said...

The cat is fab!
With that white mittens and green eyes...so lovely.. My daughter and I spent some time playing with the cat .. she screamed with joy when the cat raised her paw to catch the arrow.. She is literally in love with cats.
Thanks for filling our hearts with joy, Suki.

marianne said...

I awnsered your question on my blog since I can't find your e-mail adress (in the cat mandala post)
Greetings

sukipoet said...

thanks Marianne. I found your comment, just didnt say thanx yet on your blog. and thanx for the cat widget.

hb one of my books is a novel. One is a bk of letters between myself and two college friends, so non-fiction. I spent some time putting Mort's letters and mine and his poems into a manuscript but could not find a publisher.

Elizabeth, good to hear from you. Thanks for your kind words.