-poem by Anita White
Yes, that’s how it was….
…………for Loren…….
Thinking of Loren by Anita White
in the days
that followed
Loren Kellen’s death
the sky
just couldn’t stop crying
and either could we
as we reached
as hard as we could
to hold onto
Loren’s spirit,
which now drifted
high above the Mississippi
going north and south
to his beloved
inlets and streams.
yes, that’s how it was
those days after Loren died.
…..the sky……..
…hugging the earth so close…
and we hugging each other….
circling in a flotilla of canoes
on a lake
just knowing what to do
somehow releasing Loren
in that moment
and yet
holding him close.
Loren’s enormous vision and spirit
filling us…….
yes, that’s how it was………
in the upper sky
The Sun King
crossed the Great Heavens
with his flotilla of paddlers,
paddling with oars
crafted by him.
they reach the
other…………………………shore
where The Tree of Life opens its arms wide
to embrace him.
and there we were
one by one
opening the gate
to his shrouded dwelling
passing through his sacred arrangements
of masks, puppets, pieces, dolls, parts, pots,paraphernalia,
this and that
and more.
once you opened the gate
you could feel him there.
and oh, the mournful vigil in his house
with a candle burning
and the stories going round
and the sky kept crying and crying for Loren
the whole time.
yes, that’s how it was.
as the alchemy of shock
turned to disbelief
remembering the Sun King
the wild guy
the gentle soul
ever creative
and spontaneous!!
the sky cried and cried
for a long time
as the earth
pulled back into itself
and darkness fell early.
Shalom.
Anita White October, 2009.