.
(a very old one from 1976)
.
Awaken me,
I’m sleep walking.
In jigsaw dreams
I shadow-box
flailing fists
against the air
to shake away the trappings.
Pry open
these amnesia-clouded eyes
that they may see
beyond this tangled trail of woe –
I long to hear
the Phoenix sing.
Come knead my heart
with cosmic yeast
until my spirit rises up
to navigate the river
that will take me
to the sea.
Please awaken me.
.
.
(c) 1976, 2018 Betty Hayes Albright
Seasonings 
Exquisite, Betty – Come knead my heart/with cosmic yeast/until my spirit/rises up.
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Thank you, Martin – “Exquisite” is a wonderful word to hear! 🙂
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but flipping hard to splell, and I see you’ve changed your profile picture, you’re all smiley 🙂
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Ah, yes – I got tired of that other goofy photo. 🙂 This one was smiley ‘cuz it was a rare sunny day in the Pacific Northwest!
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“Knead my heart with cosmic yeast”–Arise, take up your bed and walk. This applies spiritually here to what I gleaned from this VERY 70s poem. I loved the idea of the Creator kneading my heart, sprinkling in more yeast to rise me right up to the heights He has designed for me!
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Granbee, thank you, and glad you related to this old poem. 🙂 Amen to your comment!!
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“Jigsaw dreams” and “amnesia-clouded eyes”, and “knead my heart”–all grab me!
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Glad to have some of it grab you, sister Caddo! 🙂
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This is beautiful once again, stunning. That you have kept up such a standard of writing for this amount of time makes me feel, well, amazed.
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Thanks again for such a nice comment, David! Actually most of my old poetry is pretty terrible and some need to be revised a little before posting. The mixed metaphors in this one still bother me, but hopefully not too noticeable. 🙂
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I long to hear
the phoenix sing!
Betty, you are never a terrible poet. Such is not in you, not even way back in the 60s. I’m afraid I do not see the mixed metaphors you tell David about.
sleep-walking, jigsaw dreams, shadow-box, amnesia-clouded eyes, mask, narrow tangled trail are all metaphors about loss and confusion. You long to hear the phoenix sing! Then you ask:
Come knead my heart
with cosmic yeast
until my spirit
rises up
to navigate the river
that will take me
to the sea,
almost demanding, in a polite way, that you be awakened the way the Phoenix was awakened to new life.
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Thanks for the reassurance, Thomas (re: mixed metaphors). I think it’s the ending of the poem that bothers me – I go from having my heart kneaded, and my spirit rising up, to navigating a river – without enough connection. But I shall leave it alone. For now. 🙂
(Funny how sometimes we’re never satisfied with our own poems – mine are always begging to be revised….)
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Mixed metaphors? I see none. Poetic license is the poet’s defense mechanism…
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True, Lindy Lee – thank heavens for poetic license!! 😀
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“Come knead my heart
with cosmic yeast
until my spirit
rises up”
This line made me smile in the same way I might smile watching someone suddenly levitate or turn water into wine…it is just impossibly cool, and I had to smile at the brilliance of it!
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VW, so glad you liked it, and that it made you smile!! Now you’ve got ME smiling! 🙂
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whew, so powerful! felt like a prayer, a calling for awakening… thank you Betty!
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Thank YOU, Poetic Invocation, for such a nice comment!
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Lots of arresting images here, Betty, but I think you and Thomas may be right about the connections and the flow.
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Thanks again, Ben – you give me something to think about!
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knead my heart… what a beautiful image.
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Thank you, Anna! 🙂
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I think your poems are just fine as is, no need to revise or worry about mixed metaphors … I enjoy your metaphors, your details, the expansiveness of your images to communicate on so many levels … in other words, AWESOME (old) poem! Glad to see you are still sharing your wonderful talents with us.
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Thank you, I appreciate your appreciation! It’s so good to be hearing from you again. 🙂
(Am hoping to keep up with your own insightful poetry a little better, when I can be on the computer more. Back pain keeps me offline and away from WP much of the time, which is a huge frustration!)
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