MY PRIMAL WOUND: MOUNT ST. HELENS MUSE

MY PRIMAL WOUND: MOUNT ST. HELENS MUSE

My primal wound
Gushes forth
Like a maddened volcano

Spilling and spewing out
It’s red-hot, lava-like blood
Down the sides
Of it’s own mountaintop

From far away,
What a wondrous, miraculous sight to behold
This awesome manifesto
Of heart’s inner core

My life’s desire
Cresting on fiery waves
With determined healing

Fate cries out
Freedom! Hope!
Come now and birth thyself
Into flowing, glowing rivers
Of silver-crusted, molten rock

Force thy yearning self
Through this softened, ripened cervix
Of my heart

I am tired, torn, and beaten
Almost completely worn-out

Yet suddenly now quickened
Bearing down on fiery eruptions
Of crowning heads held high
In liquid amber-golden flame

My voice screaming out
An urgent alarum
In anguished sounds
Near threshold pain

Can a country,
Be brought forth in a day?
Or a nation in a moment?
Who will welcome this grand arrival
Of emergent newborn life?

Come now, Love
Writhe thy pulsating self
Through this groundswell birth canal

Perforce with vigor
Through this smouldering hot
Raging and rimmed Ring of Fire

Thrust thy meek and mighty self
Into hallowed presaged destiny

Mother’s womb is gone
Child now is born
Breathing has begun
Angels sing their songs

Victory swords are drawn
This battle will be won
Time now has come
For we have seen the dawn

Tell me,
Would we die a certain death?
If we could feel the burning spot?
In God’s own manifold soul.

Jennifer Steel
October 2004
Isaiah 66:8 (NIV)

COMMENTS ARE WELCOME.

For more information on Mount St. Helens: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_St._Helens

Photo image of Mount St. Helens. Posted from WordPress for BlackBerry.

I have been working on the poem, MY PRIMAL WOUND: MOUNT ST. HELENS’ MUSE, for over ten years. And it still is not complete. But, this is the best draft, so far. I get caught up in not knowing where to put commas and other punctuation, so it looks like I did my best to make this poem, punctuation free.

I would like some visual art to go with this poem. I am looking at a few artists right now and will be asking someone to do a commission piece. More on that to come. I am also interested in an audio piece to go with this poem. Something orchestral. I have someone in mind and will be making a request for a commission piece shortly. More on that to come.

If you are moved by this poem and have any suggestions for it’s dynamic life, then please contact me.