Messages From Carrie
Poem - Inhaling
July 21st, 2004
Inhaling
I carry with me a geode the size of my fingertip
Which is crystal wrapped in ordinary grey limestone
The mysterious remains of an ancient swallow sea
Layered over by glacial rock
Pressed down with a purpose
As old as promise and stone
They slumber in the dark ground
And the creek beds are full of them
People pile them up in their gardens
Some open
Glittering in the sun
Geodes are abundant in southern Indiana
Common as corn silk in July
Accepted as familiar
And so I have grown use
To what is mysterious
And have come to expect magic
Dressed in ordinary clothing
I place this geode
This echo of home and ancient sea
On hotel lamp tables
And unfamiliar nightstands
I place it beside a tulip poplar leaf,
A dark blue feather of an indigo bunting
And a photo of my daughter
Who I swear was born smelling like rain
And sounding like a lamb in the field
Often in these hotel rooms
My skin feels like paper
And is constantly thirsty
For the air of southern Indiana is thick
As the veil of a rainforest
And very nearly as green
In that year I traveled
The full circumference of springtime
Wandering the misted Shenandoah Valley
The dark mountains of Vermont
Dropping pebbles in desert canyons
And little stones into the cold ocean.
Listening for what might come back to me
Standing with a geode, feather and photo
In a small bag lined with leaves
And so it was
In the arch of that spring
That I began dreaming of deep clay earth
Of wildflowers
Trout lily, trillium Solomon's seal
And early phlox
I dreamt of trees
Beech oak ash maple
And Tulip Poplar
I dreamt of ordinary grey limestones
In creek beds and gardens
I dreamt the soles of my traveling shoes
Had grown thin
And I was full
And I was thirsty unto dying
When I finally returned
To the mystery of commonplace
I put down my bags
Took off my traveling shoes
Right there in middle
Have the limestone dirt and gravel road
Walked with promise and purpose
And thirst
Into the thick and wet woods
Behind my house
Got on my
Hands
And knees
And pressed my nose right down
Close to the earth
And stones
And leaves
And roots
And trillium
And Feathers
Inhaling
Inhaling
Inhaling
Carrie Newcomer 2004