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#133751 January 13th, 2005 at 03:54 PM
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Good morning, all ~ wavey

Approaching the first anniversary of getting the prosthesis, I remembered this poem I wrote back then about walking that day in the parallel bars. Thought you might like to read it. Forgive me if I've posted it before....blame the forgetfulness on aging changes as I am 48 ya know, and some things just can't be helped! laugh

Merme

Ten Steps

I do not always know where miracles hide
Though I often pray for many
And believe for all.
Expecting the miraculous to be like mountains
a thunderous applause from splendid skies.
Instead, oh instead sometimes they come in the simplest things;
They catch me unaware, unmindful of His Presence
And yet He’s there in that next impossible breath
Made possible by His courage
The heart begins to beat again, the eyes open
Reality pours in like the kindness of a familiar friend.

I do not always know where miracles hide
On my knees in pursuit of heaven
Searching the treasure of His word
To answer my fearful questions
Clinging tightly to Him anyway
When all seems lost and there is no going back.
Asking, ever asking how to solve the riddle of life
All undone without my limb.

I do not always know where miracles hide
Sometimes the smallest spaces contain the biggest gap
Yesterday a necessary single step defeated me
A step I could not take without my leg.
Hope was just beyond my reach
Just past where I could touch
In frustrated silence alone I sat and wept.
Satisfaction might as well have been a thousand miles away.
Puny distance or no, it was a place I couldn’t go.

I do not always know where miracles hide
Yet I have learned to roll over again
I have learned to stand and not to fall
I came back from the edge
And have found loved ones still waiting
Learning to eat, to write, to use my hands
To get strong, to endure, to find another way.
The tenderhearted people of my community
Fair strangers well met; my own family
Cheering me on, sustaining me and my son.
Maybe the poets wouldn’t record this
Cecil B DeMille wouldn’t make a film
But today I walked ten steps, ten!

A green titanium pylon, stripped down and bare.
A pipe in an artificial foot stuck into my shoe
Made me walk again. The miracle came out of hiding
In ten precious steps, ten!
It felt like dancing.

28 January 2004
© M& Salunek

#133752 January 13th, 2005 at 11:25 PM
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Whoops! Didn't anybody like my poem? Was it a total bust? You can criticize technique or content if you want to....how else do writers learn?!

gab

Merme

#133753 January 13th, 2005 at 11:36 PM
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I love it, Merme! I thought it very beautiful in showing how to get from defeat to victory in just ten steps.

Dianna

#133754 January 14th, 2005 at 02:48 AM
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Oh Merme, it's beautiful ! thumbup Thank you so much for sharing it with me. angell

#133755 January 14th, 2005 at 04:52 AM
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Beautiful words spoken from the heart, Merme! thumbup

#133756 January 14th, 2005 at 07:32 AM
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Merme, it wasn't a bust!
I think the thing is, when someone who hasn't been there sees something like that, esp. something so real and personal, you're kind of speechless. I read it this morning, and thought "wow." and didn't post a response.

The last two lines are the most powerful.

#133757 January 14th, 2005 at 01:15 PM
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Merme, that is BEAUTIFUL and inspiring. <img border="0" alt="[clappy]" title="" src="graemlins/clappy.gif" />

Les

#133758 January 14th, 2005 at 05:10 PM
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Hi Geegee and everyone ~ wavey

My deepest desire and most daunting goal as a writer is to forge a connection between the material and the reader, regardless of how far removed the material may actually be from their own lives.

As a poet, it is terribly important to me to make my poems accessible so that others can enter in to the feelings expressed and, in a way, live the experience described.

If something is part of the human experience, then there must be a way for me to write about it so that others can enter in and feel it too.

Loss in general is a part of life....we lose loved ones, our car keys, our youth, our crops. We can have financial failure or loss of health. So maybe five readers of the poem Ten Steps have not experienced amputation of a limb, but the poem should still have merit if it adequately reveals something about loss and gains.

Because truly, poetry is not the same as biography or documentary. The historicity of the event is never as important as the sentiments that arose from those events.

A biographer may have written "On January 28, 2004, Mary-Ellen Salunek arrived at Atlantic ProCare Prothetics Lab at 9 am...." As a poet I talk to you about miracles, defeat and overcoming, while revealing something of the historical event. A green titanium pylon, parallel bars, ten small steps.

Input from readers is priceless to me because it can give clear indication about whether or not I've achieved my goal of communicating adequately.

If I'm writing about a really simple human event such as burning dinner or meeting a new love, and if someone comments that what I've written is too far-out, that they can't relate to it, then I need to take a hard look at my imagery. You see?

So comment freely as you will! kissies

Merme

#133759 January 14th, 2005 at 05:20 PM
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Quote
OF COURSE she sent us free copies of that silly book....
Puttin' my name on the list right now for a free romantic erotica book! thumbup


Cindy

#133760 January 14th, 2005 at 05:29 PM
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Aw, shucks, Cindy, Cindy,

I thought you were applying for one of those interview slots!

laugh laugh laugh

Merme

#133761 January 15th, 2005 at 03:27 AM
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What do you have to do to get an application? smile

#133762 January 15th, 2005 at 04:53 AM
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Anyone who is interested in applying to be interviewed, should PM me their contact information by the end of January.

I will be sending out the applications plus a fact sheet of useful information concerning the project during the first two weeks of February.

Geez, I hope I haven't broken a rule by talking about my project on the forum! Duh

Merme

#133763 January 15th, 2005 at 06:14 AM
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Aw, shucks, Cindy, Cindy,

I thought you were applying for one of those interview slots!
Hey...I'm game!
You know me...always telling WAY too much! lala


Cindy

#133764 January 15th, 2005 at 06:40 AM
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Also I particularly appreciated this line:

Quote
Expecting the miraculous to be like mountains
a thunderous applause from splendid skies.

#133765 January 15th, 2005 at 07:22 AM
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Hi Geegee (again, again) ~ wavey

I appreciate your comment about those lines...thank you so for posting!

Merme


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