Alice is afraid
The tough swimmer (14.07.2024, created with Bing Image Creator powered by DALL-E 3)
This one came to me just the way it is and I don’t want to comment or explain it. If you want to know more about Alice check out the previous posts.
As a child, I could not swim
In that pool of tasks and choices I was given.
I would clinch on others,
Making their swimming almost impossible.
And now I'm a monster of a swimmer,
Having Alice Dora Hellberg Demeanour,
My children, my work, and god knows what on my back
Swimming in an ocean.
And still, sometimes there is a storm,
And I am looking for an island or shelter.
And Alice finds I don't take enough time to play anymore.
Sometimes, I let her play with my children and me,
And just like me, she stayed a child in her heart.
She is a grown woman, though, and can be very distracting at times.
Well, yes, she's beautiful.
She makes me write poems,
Create art, find creative solutions, and help others grow.
She brings me in the flow.
But times are windy,
And I need to stay afloat.
Alice, please understand my choice
To test using a boat!Jan H. Hellberg (14.03.2024)
It’s open link night over at dVerse, the virtual pub for poets around the globe. Today Lilian is hosting Open Link Night where everyone is invited to post any one poem of their choice, no form, rhyme scheme etc. required OR Lilian gave us an optional prompt to use Van Gogh’s painting, Studio Window, to inspire a look through our minds windows into the garden of creativity.
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Read Slumber Party with Alice and your note after it so understand about Alice. How wise you are. „She can be very distracting at times…..she makes me write poems…“ and for that, your friends at dVerse are very grateful! Perhaps we would all be better off in our personalities, our abilities to see the world, our abilities to cope, if we named our nemesis. Thanks so much for posting!
Yes and make peace with them. I know that this is a paradox. It’s on the one hand my muse and lets me create wonderful things and do amazing work. On the other hand I see it still sometimes as a „nemisis“, indeed.
I see the bear being Alice, you running in front, and the children, family, work, on the bear’s back. What an amazing piece of artwork and metaphor for your subject matter. Regardless of if I have interpreted it as you have, that interpretation fits for me. We all need a boat to carry us sometimes. Treading water eternally is no fun.🌊💙
Thanks a million, Melissa,
I saw me as the bear, hahaha!
And that’s the beauty of poems and art in general. The interpretation and inspiration of the reader / observer is unique and for them. The author or artist is merely planting seeds of words and images with their quill shovel and their gloves of instinct and their creative gardening skills.
And then comes spring and we may be all surprised by the result.
Thank you for sharing what resonates with you. I love this kind of feedback!
The opening lines resonate with me; I remember that ‘pool of tasks and choices’! A muse often complicates the struggles of a poet.
Thank you, Kim, for sharing what resonates with you.
Not having read any other of you work, the relationship here between living person and their inner eternal artist/teacher/muse is nicely told here. The childhood who flails in the water becomes great swimmer, the creative mama bear. Who, still being mortal, tires as all swimmers do and could use a little assistance from those mortal ties – a boat, say. A bear metaphor. Dalle-E 3 is a fine schooner for such, adding to the onllne post some strangely florid colors.
Thank you very much, Brendan!
Indeed, I love the idea of personified Muse as well as the pool and ocean we handle in childhood and as adults. Glad this resonated with you.
You have a very interesting muse.
Hahaha, thank you!
Amused by your muse… good that she make you poeming
A lovely poem, and I love these lines especially:
„She brings me in the flow.
But times are windy,
And I need to stay afloat.“
I almost feel it could have ended right there, leaving a little question mark at the end in the mind of the reader.
At least she turned you into a monster swimmer, ensuring you will stay afloat! 🙂
Thank you, Sunra!
Indeed, she’s a paradox in my life. Often a distraction and at the same time allowing me to do amazing things. 😀
Oh, Jan, I really, really like how you illustrate the complexities of navigating life’s challenges and the importance of finding balance between responsibilities and embracing creativity. Just beautiful, really.
~David
Thanks a lot, David.
That’s a lovely feedback!