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Image-ine: Warrior Canoe by Holly Friesen

By Maureen Doallas 8 Comments

Warrior Canoe by Holly Friesen

A Ladder Our Boat

When we make a tree a ladder, we climb
out of the flaming fire, through our fear.
We are each from earth’s guts spilled,
Persephone rising, wild mint lacing
loose braids, sheaves of grain in hand,
spring’s re-welcoming cheered.

When we make the ladder our boat, we sail on
a kiss of wind above the Hades of our making,
spirits water-rocked in Zeus’s arms, seeds
of the pomegranate bursting, our offspring
full-disgorged.

We strike our fevered blessings on the wood,
water-tight, wave at the moon we circle twice:
the light, our safe harbor, shore.

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Write a poem of your own, based on Holly’s image or choose a line from Maureen’s poem as a starting place. Post on your blog and link to us (we love that), or just drop your poems here in the comment box.

Painting: “Warrior Canoe”, 30″ x 60″, by Holly Friesen. Used with permission. See more of Holly Friesen’s work in her online gallery. Poem by Maureen Doallas, author of Neruda’s Memoirs: Poems.

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Maureen Doallas
Maureen Doallas
Maureen is an editor at Artist Watch and Escape Into Life, as well as the author of Neruda's Memoirs: Poems.
Maureen Doallas
Latest posts by Maureen Doallas (see all)
  • Persecuted Poets: Hearing the Voices Beyond Our Borders - November 30, 2016
  • Writing with Matisse in Mind - October 26, 2016
  • Healing with Poetry: Interview with Fred Foote (Part 3) - September 10, 2015

Filed Under: Art, Image-ine, poetry

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About Maureen Doallas

Maureen is an editor at Artist Watch and Escape Into Life, as well as the author of Neruda's Memoirs: Poems.

Comments

  1. L.L. Barkat says

    March 15, 2013 at 2:13 pm

    I love this…

    “When we make a tree a ladder, we climb
    out of the flaming fire”

    It’s counterintuitive.

    The artwork is stunning. (Love the poem and the art together )

    Reply
    • Maureen Doallas says

      March 15, 2013 at 3:15 pm

      I was so pleased Holly allowed us to use the image of her gorgeous painting, which has been sold. From the time I saw images of it in progress, I knew I’d have to write about it.

      Reply
  2. Donna says

    March 15, 2013 at 3:03 pm

    Maureen this is wonderful! I love it, and I wrote one too… I couldn’t get “Persephone Rising” out of my head…. I went to the web and refreshed my memory of her story. Rising Rising…. until the Fall.
    Thanks for the inspiration.
    Persephone Rises
    http://thebrightersideblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/persephone-rises.html

    Reply
    • Maureen Doallas says

      March 15, 2013 at 3:16 pm

      Thank you so much, Donna. I owe the inspiration to the painting.

      I hope everyone links over to read your poem. Lovely piece. Thank you for your kind words there.

      Reply
  3. Monica Devine says

    March 18, 2013 at 8:39 pm

    Thank you, Maureen, for leading me to tweekspeak, and to Holly…a gorgeous painting! My poem: To Cast

    http://monicadevine.blogspot.com/2013/03/to-cast_18.html

    Reply
  4. Bethany R. says

    August 3, 2021 at 6:21 pm

    What a gorgeous poem and artwork!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Creative Remix – Word in Sound and Image | Creative Thresholds says:
    July 24, 2014 at 5:34 pm

    […] Among the selections is my poem “A Ladder, Our Boat”. The poem first appeared in the Image-ine series at TweetSpeak Poetry; Image-ine, to which I’ve contributed numerous ekphrastic poems (including a series inspired […]

    Reply
  2. The Best in Poetry: Top Ten Poetic Picks | says:
    July 31, 2014 at 8:02 am

    […] And finally, our friends at the Poetry Storehouse recently featured a new video remix by Marc Neys (aka Swoon) of “A Ladder Our Boat,” a poem Maureen Doallas wrote for an Image-ine pairing with Holly Friesen’s painting “Warrior Canoe.” […]

    Reply

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