Poems

River That Flows Both Ways*

by Rachel Landsberg

River That Flows Both Ways

Let me come with you

To learn

About moving, dancing and rhythm

About letting go and holding on tight

About making and filling space

Let me see all that you cradle in the palm of your hand

The bass, blue fish and crab

Bounty for the herons and bald eagles

Barges, planting themselves for what seems like eternity

Motor boats, speeding by in an instant

A lone fisher, creating her own sense of time

Fresh water and salt water

Mixing together

And blue sky above forming a ladder to the heavens

River That Flows Both Ways

Show me how you ebb at one moment

And in the next, turn towards high tide

Your length and breadth and longevity

Constantly changing and yet always the same

Source of life for some and a final resting place for others

Your calm and quiet

Your motion and commotion

The simplicity and grandeur you exude at the same time

You bridge worlds and waters

Making the impossible seem possible once again

With your offer of a welcome home

River That Flows Both Ways

Teacher and Wise One

Great Water in Constant Motion

Thank you

For the gesture and the reminder -

When we simply are and do not unthinkingly do

When we embrace and do not fight against

When we decide to truly see rather than look away

Then we are choosing life and love and connection

Then we are re-creating and returning to the primal peace and to the life-giving waters

that reside within each of us

Gan Eden**

By Rachel Landsberg

I remember a time

Walking in the garden

Seeking company and connection

A talk with Another (the Other) in the breeze of the day

The slippery snake slithers by

And I question what is real and true

Who I am and how to be

Where to plant my roots

I bite the apple

Tasty, juicy, tempting

And my fall is quick

In an instant I am on the ground

Alone

Thrust out of the womb

Separate and bereft

The gates are closed

And I long to return

What do you do

When you can never go back?

What do you do

When your whole world is lost?

I find another other sitting under a tree holding a seed

A hope stirs inside me, of rooting new roots

Flesh of my flesh and my flesh his flesh

And the other Other palpable once again

Holding the newborn in my arms,

I understand

I have acquired another by way of the Other

And countless other others await me as well

**Gan Eden is told from the perspective of Eve and the poem is based on details from the account in Genesis of Eve's “fall” from the Garden of Eden. The garden here represents the womb and the universal experience of leaving the womb, a place of physical closeness, security and protection, and then entering into a new reality. The devastation Eve faces at leaving the garden of Eden mirrors the devastation that perhaps each of us feel leaving the womb, and, by extension, any time we need to adapt to a new situation as we face loss. Eve finds connection and hope once again; our future and our possibilities need not be defined by our losses.  As we face the climate crisis -- and the loss and grief we have already experienced and that yet to come -- staying hopeful can pave the way for re-envisioning, rebuilding, and transitioning.

My Story of Swimming:  A Story of Knowing***

By Rachel Landsberg

At first I am hesitant

The water is cold and looming, separate and other

Does she beckon to me from that generous place?

Or does she taunt me?

We have a history together and so I can try to remember

There is no such thing as other, only another, inviting

Yesterday I dangled my toes in first and then my knees and then my torso

And so it went, limb by limb, remembering her, body part by body part

Today, I take the plunge instead, immersing in one instant

Gasping and shivering in response, taken aback, wondering will I lose myself to her?

But as I take that first stroke, I feel her offer

A place to exert and to try, to be fully me and fully with

My body floats, glides, strokes, splashes

Wet and smooth skin, deliberate breath, steady, strong arms

My mind imagines, seeks, suggests, wonders

Worlds known and unknown, past places and those I dream of yet to come

We know each other

And when I can remember her, I can remember myself

***My Story of Swimming celebrates my relationship with water, with swimming, with being physical. It explores the human relationship with our surrounding physical environment and the ways in which we dominate or battle with our surroundings rather than  partnering with them or feeling nurtured by them.

Will(ow)ing Weeps****

by Rachel Landsberg

The weeping willow wails for me and you

And for herself and for the world

Tears of pain and grief

And tears of joy

Drooping, bending, yielding, succumbing

Swaying and singing in the wind

Exerting, reaching, stretching, grounding

Standing still and tall in the quiet

Opening herself to the world

The light, the wind, the air, the rain, the sun

But enveloping herself around us at the same time,

Offering shade and cool, a swing, a soft mound, a house of sorts

And in the storm the willow weeps

The wind wails

The water wettens

The way widens

An opening for me and you and the world

To come under the canopy of the willow

Not alone – stoic and stone, separate and unknowing

But with – searching, moving, will(ow)ing all kinds of weeps