and at first light ice invites fire remembrance camp kitchen bedroom
summer’s burnt grasslands and sun-scorched skin
outside the stone-eyed snowgirl grows up cold
hard enough to endure the harsh world before she turns to slush
fire lends itself to stale tales no longer serving life smolder and blaze
fanned flames serve up ash and haze linking earth and deep blue sky
hearth-keepers line the path to guide us back you and I
to heart’s hearth where shadow and light sit side by side
come back to the hearth to the heart to the soul
tending fire
—Hazel Smith Hutchinson
Comments on: "4. To the Stars Through Difficulty: Hazel Smith Hutchinson" (4)
Hazel Smith Hutchinson’s poem makes me cry. Both for the universal mystery it embodies,
and the skill with which it is placed in our sky. Thank you again for the gift of these Kansan poets!
Good, solid contrast, turning the image from ice to fire to hearth *where shadow and light sit side by side,* and where the next poet could bring in the darker shades of Kansas.
Good, solid contrast where the image turns from ice to fire to hearth *where light and shadow sit side by side,* and where the next poet could bring in the darker shades of Kansas.
Patricia and Jackie – Thank you both for acknowledging and honoring my piece. Living and loving in with light and shadow all around!