Sunday, April 17, 2016

In-Habit--By Laura M. Kaminski--United States

In-Habit

"I'm a product of many books." –
 Oluwasegun Romeo Oriogun

book held open: a time-travel ship
whose denizens have journeyed far
and long in hibernation

turn the page, these characters
emerge blinking into torchlight
by which you read at night

do they tame moth and mosquito
harness them with invisible
saddles, joust and jaunt

and re-enact there in your dark-
filled room? a book held open:
far more powerful than

any jinni stoppered in a bottle,
each line has its own presence,
each page characters in

residence. romeo, be careful how
closely you hold them when you
read, you could be taking

ghosts in when you breathe

Laura M. Kaminski (Halima Ayuba) grew up in northern Nigeria, went to school in New Orleans, and currently lives in rural Missouri. More information about her and her poetry is available athttps://arkofidentity.wordpress.com/about/ 

14 comments:

  1. Lovely poem, Laura. Many long dead authors I feel are amongst my closest friends.

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    1. Thank you, Neil. I know exactly what you mean!

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  2. So, so gently beautiful. It's what I've come to expect from Laura, from Romeo.

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    1. Thank you for the kind words, John. When Romeo dropped that line, I simply couldn't resist.

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  3. Beautiful and perfectly captures the wonder and joy of reading! I love that last line "you could be taking ghosts in when you breathe."

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    1. Thank you, Robin. This one was fun to write!

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  4. loved the last stanza in particular, what a build up! lovely poem!

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  5. Very nice poem indeed,magical moments captured,best wishes,angelee

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  6. You have built the piece perfectly. Great finale. Best wishes Ralph.

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  7. This surely gives cause, and pause, to reflect.

    Stunning closure.

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  8. Reflection. This is good for us to do every time we can. Nice work, Laura. Thank you for sharing and continued blessings!

    -MJ(www.tgbtgpublictions.com)

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  9. Thank you all so much! I am most grateful to be included in the community here at Whispers. - Laura

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  10. Lovely, lovely poem. I do think these "ghosts" that come to us in books, the ones we take inside us, stay there, change us in ways we can't really articulate.

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