Introducing Terri Lynn Cummings: Our Newest Frequent Contributor & Poet of the Week

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to announce the addition of Terri Lynn Cummings to our group of Frequent Contributors.  As a means to introduce her to our readers, she will be featured as our Poet of the Week for the week of January 9, 2017.  Beginning today, one of Terri’s poems will be published in the Review every weekday this week.  Her bio may be found in the “Our Editor and Frequent Contributor” page.

Today's offering from Terri is "The Nature of Love".  It was a finalist in the 2017 Songs of Eretz Poetry Award Contest.

The Nature of Love

Terri Lynn Cummings

  

Dawn opens a fistful of pink

and clouds melt like butter

into slow sheets

teasing forth the need for more

The press of dew arrays this moment

a slip of a thing in tousled fields

a vivid chorus of breath

a shiver of moisture

Strength and subtlety

balance intimately

tip the tumble of wonder

from the ripe scent of living

Wild strokes of red

flare from a thousand candles

shatter the weight of silk

as the hour blooms

Seasons rest

on yesterday’s pillow

tremble in renewal

as a clear spring

Deepening grace

opens an unguarded sky

like petals of a flower

unique in this world

Poet’s Notes:  When I write about a deeply personal subject such as this one, I use the pen of nature. If my window is closed, I read Mary Oliver’s poems for inspiration. Short lines, minimal words, and the wide, white page leave space for rumination, imagination, precision. What joy to strike the match, which lights a candle.

Editor’s Notes:  The imagery in this magical poem is simply breathtaking, tastefully erotic whether taken literally or metaphorically.  I especially enjoy the way the rhythm is varied; yet the words still flow.  Contest Judge Former Kansas Poet Laureate Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, PhD had this to say about the poem:

“....the ripe scent of living” really speaks volumes as well as the “Wild strokes of red/flare from a thousand candles....” There's a lot of memorable images in the specifics here, such as “a slip of a thing in tousled fields/ a vivid chorus of breath,” which evokes a sense of new life and possibilities.