Monday, February 25, 2013

Like Driftwood Left

Archangels Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel with Tobias



Like Driftwood Left

Dear Once-hurting Angel,
You must have wondered 
as your spirit ascended above
your body in death

Why, I'm being left,
left slumped over in a car
towed to an impound lot;
or lying in a wood
no one hoped you'd find;
Or bundled in a trunk; or flushed
out to sea with no trace;

Even my bones
are not together
you say;

I'm being left
strangled and mutilated;
How strange to die
Like things, left discarded
like driftwood; 
like driftwood no angels
seemed to bless;

Holy Girls, Youngest of Women, 
who never dreamed they'd 
 lose their life with someone they knew, and 
be discarded like last-weeks garbage,
Or simply spend time in a park
with the wrong boy;

And how did you die, Angel? 
A chorus of words calls back:
Mutilated, stabbed, or shot--
You spoke with a clear voice;

If angels weren't there
in your hidden seclusion; if you felt them not:
I'm praying them where you laid;
Praying them
Where you rose &
Where you lived and played;

You were made for joy
and prayers,
not control and violation
a male thought was
your due or because he 
was in the mood;

You've left us numb,
Left us hallow:
murder after murder
so quickly forgotten
because inside--we're horrified;
But something has happened
to us now - all the remaining
women
We feel, too--
Left like Driftwood
on the beaches of the world.

by Connie Nelson Ahlberg
2/25/2013

It's been a struggle to 
even keep up with the 
violence against women
in the Twin Cities and
beyond:

Anna Hurd 
Brittney Clardy
Kira Trevino

Zahra Baker's 
Skull was found in NC,
a young girl;
they're all young girls.

I had to write
to them and
about them:
Darlings all.


Thursday, February 21, 2013

Prayer of the Ambitious

Crows Lake in North Sikkim by Carsten Nebel

Prayer of the Ambitious

My life lays before me
like an endless
dawn
and I am drawn
into my days
with total faith
that I shall win
a prized life;

Remind me 
You are timeless
beyond my endless dawn
and for wisdom,
I, all ambition,
need only draw
upon Thee.

By Connie Nelson Ahlberg



Saturday, February 9, 2013

River Notes: Making A Life




River Notes

A wise woman said to 
her rapids' team:
you can form your body
round the flat rocks, getting
through while amazing 
your mind; you can be lucid
like a lake of compelling darkness
that is an old friend seductively
beckoning you forward; but the true
wonder always is the sounds of the river,
the wafting of the water like it's own symphony
and you can flow into the vibrations
and make a life.

February 9, 2013
Connie Nelson Ahlberg