THE HEAVY OBJECT
By Elizabeth McKim
Many times
I heard the voice
of the heavy object,
Behind closed doors
Through small holes
Across frontiers at dawn.
Many times I was too pressed
Down to meet that heavy object
Much less to move it ,
At those times I stopped
Wanting a cool forest
Its resting places,
My legs were so tired
They could not carry me
And I slept,
Balancing
Small perfect circles
On the outside edge of my dreams
I danced and turned with the heavy object
Until it was green and manageable,
Until we could hold each other and weep
Until we could speak directly
To each other
Until I could regain what I knew as a child :
A real bird, a mountain, a snail all coral
In the shape of a realizable mountain,
A circle above another circle
Below, three roads leading
To the sky, and the sky
Completely empty
Of any object
Completely
Free....
Elizabeth McKim is an engaging poet-performer and teacher, well-known to Boston audiences and students of all ages. She works out of the oral tradition of song, story, and poem. She has published several books of poetry and has worked with countless children and teachers throughout the USA and internationally. She has been Poet Laureate at the European Graduate School EGS and was an adjunct faculty member at Lesley University in the Department of Creative Arts in Learning. She is currently performing her poetry where she resides in Lynn, Massachusetts.