Here at The Dewdrop, we can’t help but to be reminded of the late great Mary Oliver when reading Ellen White Rook’s tremendous “On Waking”. “To write a poem is to explore our momentary experience of the world in word, rhythm, image, and space–white space and our finite but expanding world,” Ellen explained to The Dewdrop. She continued, “‘On Waking’ looks at the flickers that arise between the bardos of sleep, dream, and awake using images to interweave.”
Ellen White Rook’s “On Waking” was first published in The Banyan Review.
On Waking
the oracle leaves
footprints in water that turn to ice
a winter palace
that sieves the sun
———-inside
———-I dream of swimming
———-in a summer pond
words spoken hang
in myths
knife-silver light sits on murky water
not a reflection but the place
between object and impression
at the edge
———-in reeds
———-the heron stands
———-rises out of itself
———-all stillness
———-ready to strike
there is evidence I am here awake
that I have been moving
speaking
sometimes listening
a lined face
bones that have lost their boneness
dust whispered into clouds
———-the water I slip into is neither hot nor cold
———-alive with frogs and weeds and slick grey fish
———-I am noiseless as a faraway stone
truth echoes the heron’s cry
one slender leg bent
about to breathe
dive
about to kill
the seam between
waking and dreaming
unspeakable
———-the pond perfumes my hair
Ellen White Rook
Ellen White Rook is a poet and teacher of contemplative arts residing in Albany, NY and South Portland, Maine. She offers writing workshops and leads Sit, Walk, Write retreats that merge meditation, movement, and writing. She also teaches ikebana, Japanese flower arranging. Ellen is a graduate of the Master of Fine Arts program at Lindenwood University. Her work has been published in New Verse News, Red Rock Review, Black Fork Review, New Note Poetry, Trolley Literary Journal, and more. In 2021, two of her poems were nominated for Pushcart Prize. Read more of her work at ellenwhiterook.com.