Intro: When we first met Kiva, “Poet” was one of the roles or identities that she identified with most.  She wrote for herself first, as every poet must, but the revealing honesty and excruciating intensity burned, blew, rooted and grew with a message for everyone.  That poetry is generally such an under-appreciated form of literature anymore, is a sad statement on our kind… for the poem is beauteous, heartful, dancing truth stripped of all else.  And of all the poets and poems written, I know of none better than those of our own scribe, Kiva.   -Wolf

Morning River

(Within Walking Distance)

by Kiva Rose Hardin

(www.animacenter.org)

 

With the ground warm
and wet underfoot
I unfurl myself
into the morning -
a fern frond unwinding
from the earth,
hair loose and
catching in the junipers
as I stretch my face
out towards
sky and the sweet
blossom smell
of seven o’clock
in the mountains

everything worth having
is within walking distance -
dirt under my toes,
leaves and bark
brushing my face,
and my love’s fingers
reaching out in sleep to
curl against my calf

and always -
always the song
of the rushing river
rising from below

everything I love
I hold close to me -
my daughter dancing
wild and sleepy-eyed
at first light,
forest creatures
walking past my bed
late at night,
the taste of berries
sweet and tart
and jewel red,
blooming reckless
against my tongue

I hold it close -
I press it against my lips,
and in the morning
I walk to the river,
step into the current
with a rustling of leaves
-breath, birdsong-
and close the distance
between myself
and everything
I have ever loved

Categories: Practicing Animá Lifeways, Sense of Place

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 14th, 2009 at 9:10 pm and is filed under Practicing Animá Lifeways, Sense of Place. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.