Saturday, May 29, 2010

fairies are like the girls of boy's imaginings

the good fairies bring gifts
and not always
the gifts
you've asked for

more often
they're the gifts you need

the gifts you've wished for
without hearing yourself
say those words
without knowing yourself
think those thoughts

and they weave like fog
into the forest of your life

becoming
what you know
of what you know

fairies
are
like the girls
of boy's imaginings
slipping
in
and out
of moments
like fog

seen
and yet not seen

felt
and yet not felt

known
and yet
not known

bringing
their gifts
in perfumed
handbaskets

that leave their
heady
soft fullness
lingering
like
fog
in the air


august malmström dancing fairies

19 comments:

R. Burnett Baker said...

"...they weave like fog into the forest of your life..." is a wonderful notion of how we should strive to build our lives and relationship. A soothing poem, Steven.

Delwyn said...

Hi Steven

I have no affinity with fairies but I do have an affinity with your words...

slipping in and out of moments like fog...is a great expression


Happy days

Rachel Fenton said...

I like the same line as R. Burnett Baker, too...And i would be a happy woman if I could paint like that...I think if you loved fairies as a child you never stop loving them - or loving things which evoke how they made you feel.

Eryl said...

I think I've just learnt something about boys, I must tell my niece.

Elisabeth said...

These are such lovely images, Steven. as ever you excel in your choice of words and images.

Pauline said...

sighing with pure pleasure!

Dan Gurney said...

Despite the outward appearances of the society of men, I'd venture to say that most boys and men know in the marrow of their bones that girls and women embody vast, deep and essential wisdom.

The more this yin female wisdom scares the menfolk, the more the men try to marginalize women.

steven said...

hi richard - the one is subtly and powerfully connected to the other. thankyou for your kind comment. steven

steven said...

hello delwyn - i think that fairies are an expression of a subtle magic that pervades all living things - a bridging between worlds. whether they assume a tangible form isn't of real interest to me although i love paintings of them!!! steven

steven said...

rachel thankyou for the comment and also for the insightful thought. as with so many things that are subtle or which hover in-between worlds there's been a sorry trivializing of the idea of fairy. but i appreciate their presence all the same. steven

steven said...

eryl - i've got more but you have to tell girls about boys in the kindest way!! we're under the gun these days - sometimes literally. being a particular sort of man in this day and age is what i imagine it must have been like for women in the middle ages. in the right circle a sort of appreciation, but overall suppressed, repressed whatever it takes to tuck you away behind the barrage of ideas and images that define what a man is or should be. steven

steven said...

elisabeth thankyou so much!! steven

steven said...

pauline i'm glad that this was a good place for you to be! steven

steven said...

hi dan - it's a sort of man who marginalizes any person. if you give the comment i made to eryl's comment above, you'll see something (and i have no doubt you share something) of that feeling that there are all sorts of people - men and women - who need to suppress, hold back, deny, contain other men and women who have left behind the trappings - the traditional trappings - of masculinity. the media is just as damaging to men as it is to women in its portrayals of what men and women should be. but. i am optimistic that a time will come when it is entirely alright to be a person. to bring goodness into the world as and whenever you can.

Linda Sue said...

I can't breathe- this sent me into a state of overwhelm! I really really love this- the poem- the thoughts- the creativity- the pictures of fairies and fog- the mind that puts it all there!
This is SO my cup of tea- this post- I will save it forever. Fairies live around our home- we have SEEN them...

Friko said...

The faeries telling us what we need and bringing us what we need is a lovely thought. Are we always accepting of what they give us?
It would be so good just to trust and accept. I will have to keep coming to you, perhaps I can learn the way here.

Rima Staines said...

Steven, your words are always such a real delight.. and you describe the fairies I am interested in - nothing specific except a foggy idea, and interesting in their histories :)
"fairies are like the girls of boy's imaginings" - brilliant! :))

Bee said...

"not always the gifts you ask for"

Can something be wise and whimsical at the same time? I think so . . .

Annie said...

I love this poem, especially these two stanzas:

the good fairies bring gifts
and not always
the gifts
you've asked for

more often
they're the gifts you need...

fairies
are
like the girls
of boy's imaginings
slipping
in
and out
of moments
like fog


I also enjoyed reading your comments about masculinity and femininity. Maybe one day we will all just be viewed as people, accepted for ourselves, and the stereotypes will no longer apply.