The Sudden Drown of Knowing
As Katherine Bond's eye loops around the emotional and physical realities in her life, sketching her interior landscapes and still lifes into poems, windows begin to open, mysteries blossom, the real world shines with new colors. This is resonant and surprising work.
--Luci Shaw, author
The Green Earth: Poems of Creation;
writer in residence, Regent College, Vancouver
Poetry has been with me as
long as I can remember. I
think it is with all of us, but we are taught to forget its language.
Poetry is Jacob’s ladder for me:
a place where earth and spirit connect.
My most influential
mentors have been Rose Reynoldson and Margaret D. Smith. I owe them both
the deepest gratitude for helping me to find the poems amid the weeds.
For Bells
I pray passion and genius
neatly trimmed.
I pray a cool pew
and a soft kneeler
fervently.
Don't let ravens feed me by a stream
or giants taunt me.
Don't come to me in visions in the night
or leap white-hot from the pages
I study.
Don't loose my tongue, don't wash my feet,
don't bleach my white, white gloves
with blood
Or I must wear bells,
bells on my hem
and hear their glassy sound
to know I am alive.
From The Sudden Drown of Knowing, Brass Weight Press, 2000
