Who am I? ‘Light Touch in the Woods’ and other poems exploring self-identity
April is National Poetry Month. We’ve invited readers from across the Central Coast to share their best original poems dealing with self-identity and diversity.
Here is a sampling of the poems. We will be posting new poems at sanluisobispo.com/entertainment/books throughout the month.
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Poems
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“Light Touch in the Woods”
By Bonnie Young, Arroyo Grande
I draw open the curtain
to this thicket of eucalyptus,
limbs stretching up before me,
slithering bare skin against
the morning blue, waiting
to be splashed by sun
and transformed chameleon-like
out of shadows into shafts
of gold. I reach out to be held
in stillness and dare to pray.
When that early hour fades into
evening and shifts to darkness,
these eucalypti stretch
their tall, bare limbs into the night
like the pale strong arms of women,
shivering as they shimmy
out of their clothes in dark’s chill.
Each silver-white form twists and turns
like a sculpture come to life,
breathing in and passing on
the white fire of moonlight.
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“Jacked up home again”
By Kevin Drabinski, San Luis Obispo
It had rained
And rained again
Then cleared off
And in the early early morn
Like a soft black blue blanket that reaches
To the four corners
Of an earthly bed
The sky – even this close to the city
The sky hung
With families of the smallest stars
Right down to the edges
Of its hilly horizons
Those vast and brilliant distances
Of time and space
Their ancient splendor
Spoke to that which was old in me
To the utterance of my true name at the birth of my soul
To that first breathy kiss that drew me into existence
And I laughed with the sky
And who couldn’t hear it?
Rocking and rolling
On the whispers of eternity
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“the seat of honor”
By RL Sendra, Nipomo
there is a reason that you talk
and god listens.
there is profound solace
in the consolation of a friend
who hears your heartache,
treating it like gold,
in the tender hands of infinity.
there is a purpose for seeing
the night sky stars,
feeling awe and wonder,
in such exquisiteness.
there is treasure in knowing
our undying interdependence.
all of life in call and response.
ecstasy came to meet you here,
just for your flabbergasted knowingmaking
you royalty in the seat of significance.
this is why you keep coming back,
to the garden, as the honored guest.
so I ask you, as you’ve been called to task before,
in silence again, the question with no answer,
the heart that knows your purpose.
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“Echoes”
By Ivan BrownOtter, Cayucos
Trying to find myself
I trek into the wilderness
of northwestern Montana
Voices of Chief Seattle
and Black Elk
echo off the far canyon wall
Man didn’t create
the web of life
He is but a thread in it
What he does to the web
he does to himself
The Great Spirit
lives at the center
of the web
The center is everywhere
and within each of us
I feel the tug of threads
through rock people
deer people
wind and rain
buffalo
tall grass and sun
I am part of
the web of life too
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“Narrows of Zion”
By Rosemary Wilvert, San Luis Obispo
Thunderheads in the highlands
summer afternoon hangs hot in the valley
I chill to my neck in a swimming hole
waiting out a storm surge
to see how far I can walk
the next morning into the slot canyon
Cold water rushing my knees a mile in
amber walls curving into lavender
I find a stout willow stick for a third leg
Ochre sandstone burnishes orange
in a shaft of sunshine
shadows deepen purple
Narrowed current climbs my thighs
My fingertips reach opposite
thousand-foot-high walls
three miles in
I must see what’s
around the next bend
Water funneling waist-high
I caress polished stone
one more time
give in
let the flow
buoy me and my stick
wider and wider back down the canyon
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“If”
By William Beck, San Luis Obispo
If I were a West Coast hummingbird
I’d float the on shore breeze
Or fly so high ‘til only a speck
cruising, diving, wherever I please.
Been clocked at 50 per
not bad for being so tiny
my strength I gather from nectar
keeps my colors bright and shiny
Greyhounds chase the fake rabbit
thoroughbreds pummel the track
But me with my wings reved up
could already be there and back.
Don’t mean to sound so brazen
Mother nature creates a way
to mold each creature special,
“viva la difference” we say
My flight plans can box the compass
routes go up, down, forward and back
boy have they come in handy
To ward off a sneak attack!
Don’t count me out too small
there’s more of me to know
If your interests still peak
To the internet, you must go.
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»» There’s more: Click here to read the next set of poems
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»» More poems: In troubled times, SLO County poets seek to comfort and inspire
This story was originally published April 17, 2017 at 9:13 PM with the headline "Who am I? ‘Light Touch in the Woods’ and other poems exploring self-identity."