*memories, Shaped By Wind I: Child Of Duststorms Poem by Lillian Susan Thomas

*memories, Shaped By Wind I: Child Of Duststorms

Rating: 3.2


Growing up in Lubbock,
Child of dust storms,
There were years when all of my memories
Were shaped by wind:
Nightmares were tumble-weeded and dust-deviled;
Hounded by prairie dogs
Into their safe haven underground
Dark and deeply labyrinth-ed.

We had weeks when the sun
Was weakened to a pallid moon.
Even at midday I could stare into it
Without tears, without sneezing,
If I could open my eyes.
When I had to walk into the wind
I invented a way of walking - backwards,
Glancing over my shoulders.

For years soon after cotton fields were plowed,
Maize and sorghum were seeded,
The wind would rise, lifting topsoil
And some of the tiny kernels of hope
In the dark skirts of sand storms,
Destroying farmers' fantasies of tall green stalks.
The winds would start in spring,
Blow through August,
Until finally in October
They would die, and rain would wash the air clean.

On quieter days during those dirty months
The sky would fade from blue to dun to tan to brown,
Smudging with the horizon, inseparable,
Woven together, sharing strands of warp and weft.
But for all of the ugliness,
With so much silt in the atmosphere,
I remember even 50 years later
The sunsets so brilliant with colors,
Hues we have no names for -
Mottled grayish purple, coral-pink,
Cinnabar-salmon, rose-vermilion -
The variegated clouds still ribbon through my dreams.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Sally Carter 23 May 2009

Another wonderful poem for my favourites collection. Your imagery is fantastic - even though I don't know the place, I feel as if I am there with you all those years ago. I particularly love the final verse, final line.

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Stephen Stirk 23 May 2009

I enjoyed the journey you laid out through such wonderful imagery. It puts you in it to feel it, even though it's not the readers place. Best Steve

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Broken Heart 04 July 2009

truly amazing! ! fantasticly writen! ! awesome! !

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Yelena M. 03 July 2009

Your poem is like a journey through the vast landscape of memories and imagination, so full of colours and reminiscences. Those beautiful moments are alive and in eternity as long as thery are remembered and expressed in such vivid poetry. Thanks for sharing and best wishes to you. A.

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Sameer Ahmed 30 June 2009

One cannot change the direction of the wind yet we can adjust our contemplations with wind and it is indeed a fact that memories can sail with wind and time. The shapely patterns of wind can make ones memories remingle in the mind and make one really calm with all those golden elapsed moments curling in between the crus and gyri of the mind.......10/10

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Naseer Ahmed Nasir 03 June 2009

Wind has the ability to turn the memories into their original shape and a poet can shape the memories into living words. The wind and the poetess, Lillian Thomas, both have acted like 'shape memory alloy' in this beautiful nostalgic poem. It also evoked the similar remembrances of my childhood village life. Best Regards Naseer

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Ron Flowers 25 May 2009

You have painted a vivid picture of your memories. A wonderful job, Susan. Ron

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