I was back at school today after a day off for this bad cold. My head still feels like it’s full of rocks. So the poem today was slightly lower effort. In a little break today, I went through the first few chapters of The Scarlet Letter and pulled out words and phrases that seemed to go together in order to create a found poem.

I think I’m going to have to come back to this again and see what possibilities arise. I’m actually more pleased with these results than I expected to be.

At the Gallows
a poem found in The Scarlet Letter
by Beth Weaver-Kreider

I.
a throng of bearded men
heavily timbered
founders of a new Utopia
on one side of the portal
kept alive in history
under the footsteps
of our narrative

II.
on a certain summer morning
in that early severity
that witch was to die upon the gallows

on the summer morning the women
appeared to take a peculiar interest
they were her countrywomen

III.
make way, good people, make way
open a passage
iniquity is dragged out into the sunshine
the spectacle of guilt and shame
woman, transgress not
beyond the limits of heaven’s mercy
on this wild outskirt of earth
art thou not afraid

IV.
her sin the roots
which she had struck into the soil
the chain that bound her here
could never be broken
her shame that all nature knew

V.
a torch kindles a name
destiny had drawn a circle about her
witchcraft gathered about her
the sound of a witch’s anathemas
in some unknown tongue

VI.
the fallen woman had been
on her pedestal of shame
possessing the lock and key
of her silence

---

“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”
—Nelson Mandela
*****
For a day, just for one day,
Talk about that which disturbs no one
And bring some peace into your beautiful eyes.
—Hafiz
*****
“Whatever you’re meant to do, do it now. The conditions are always impossible.” —Doris Lessing
*****
“Open your mouth only if what you are going to say is more beautiful than silence.” —proverb
*****
“All religions, all this singing, one song. The differences are just illusion and vanity. The sun’s light looks a little different on this wall than it does on that wall, and a lot different on this other one, but it’s still one light.” —Rumi
*****
The magic of autumn has seized the countryside;
now that the sun isn’t ripening anything
it shines for the sake of the golden age;
for the sake of Eden;
to please the moon for all I know.
—Elizabeth Coatsworth
*****
“. . .fairies’ gold, they say, is like love or knowledge—or a good story. It’s most valuable when it’s shared.” —Heather Forest, The Woman Who Flummoxed the Fairies
*****
“Sacred is another word for energy. Some physical spaces are sacred because they vibrate with the energy of the Spirit. Some rituals are sacred because they connect infinite energy with finite creation. Some memories are sacred because they transmit the energy of those who are now our ancestors.  Some visions are sacred because they are the energy of hope, transforming our lives, right before our eyes.” —Steven Charleston