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Ascension-Descent~ By Marie Turco

12/4/2019

2 Comments

 
“Now the ears of my ears awake and the eyes of my eyes are open.”  ~ e.e. cummings

“I who have died awake again”

I know of only one true Ascension, seen some small victories in my time
witnessing the human spirit--
but that rising of a son-spirit-father God,
sent to save us from ourselves,
and I would argue “the other,”
that grace bestowed, that peace so promised
exceeds my grasp, for certain.

my body rose again 
this morning, marked by
pain-blue-too bright 
mocking sky
I am sitting up

“thank you God for this amazing,”
that is what e.e. cummings
wrote down, I am certain
he penned that in the morning,
with all the bird songs, sun and,
“blue, blue true sky,”
that really only poetry can invent.

today is one more day of
survival of the fittest.
perhaps this is a kind of
Ascension,
there was no death in the night-
pain, hopelessness, and the
strange wet bump on the pillow,
I thought was my head finally
exploding were there.

this morning doesn’t sweep in
on the wings of some bright red cardinal,
sitting on some white, weathered gate post.
Ascension today sings
more like a death-song-suspended.

it is another day on this round-round-spinning ball,
complete with dizziness
and confusion.

I am “lifted from the no of all
nothing...
barely “tasting, touching, seeing, hearing me.”


Author Bio:
Marie is a poet, writer, and playwright. Her work has been published in various places, such as Rebelle Society, The Mighty and others. Her poems were made into a play, “The Sanity Trials,” in 2018 by The Bridge-PHL, a Philadelphia theater company.

Marie is a vocal advocate for disability rights, as she lives with bipolar disorder and a serious neurological disorder caused by a lack of knowledge of mental illness by the law enforcement system. She was a clinical social worker/psychotherapist for 30 years.

She is from Philadelphia, finding herself temporarily stranded in Knoxville TN.

Her main inspirations are fighting against mental health discrimination, the Almighty, Social Justice, and her faithful angel-service dog, Maya.
2 Comments
Carol Louise Moon
12/14/2019 06:17:00 am

I especially like the 5-line stanza which reads: "this morning doesn't sweep in. " It's a pure poem in itself. Good imagery.

Reply
Marie Turco
6/8/2021 06:27:15 am

Carol, thank you for the feedback and for reading!!

Reply



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