Tundra – A Pantoum

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A tundra – cold and frozen
Defines the landscape of blame
Bereft of all connection
Yet longing to reclaim

Defined – the landscape of blame
Just needs forgiveness to light
And longing can reclaim
The love that heals the blight

Needing forgiveness to light
The way won’t seem that long
The love that heals the blight
Will help those words come out strong

The way won’t be that long
Since longing can reclaim
To help those words come out strong
Redefine the landscape of blame.

The picture above is from Hélène’s “What Do You See?” Weekly Challenge Picture prompt. When I saw it, I immediately thought it would fit with Frank’s post on dVerse about “Blame and Forgiveness” but alas, a poem did not matriculate before Mr. Linky was gone. Then today, the lovely Gina posted on dVerse about the Pantoum form and the pieces all fell together!

* I welcome any and all feedback on this form. Thank you in advance for your thoughts! *

Blaming another is really an isolating feeling. To me, it’s a disconnect from the other person and from your own self. When you are finding fault, it usually means you are overlooking the good parts, the parts that connect you with the other and that might also connect you to your better self.

Forgiveness is a reconnection. True, taking that first step to reconnection or maybe even the reconnection itself may be overwhelming. But the love and peace that can come with a reconciliation is one of the greatest gifts one can give and receive.

Is there someone you need to forgive? Welcome that person (or even yourself) back from that cold tundra with open arms and a hot beverage and you’ll be rewarded with the brightest flame of all!

©️ iido 2019

37 thoughts on “Tundra – A Pantoum”

  1. good good thoughts, the amalgamation of prompts superbly executed, sometimes good things happen to those who wait! i like how Frank’s prompt was lingering in your brain stew and then inspired you to write the pantoum, this is the basis of the pantoum form, a rumination of thoughts and events, well done. oh and Helenes’ photo comes in so wonderfully, double well done. i note that you have not copied the interlocking lines as per the proper pantoum but that doesn’t alter the content or divert from the melody you have created. as we are updating the pantoum format, this could be a good example of when slight changes in a few selected words give deeper meaning and better flow. you tackled the subject of blame so well Irma. we do isolate ourselves when we hold on to blaming and not forgiving graciously. thank you for participating!

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  2. I like the words you used in your poem. They are very alive words even when describing something painful, like “bereft of all connection”. I also think you have good insights on the topics of blame and forgiveness.

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  5. Really really relates to Frank’s prompt on forgiveness and blame. Maybe it’s just my computer screen….but I can’t see any stanza delineations in the spacing. There appears to just be one long poem with every line double-spaced. To have it even physically look like a pantoum (4 line stanzas), just a shift in the spacing would really help. But again, it just may be me seeing it that way.

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    • Thank you for that feedback, Lillian! I did break it up into the 4 stanzas when I wrote in on WP, but then WP changes the spacing after I hit publish. I am not sure how to stop WP from doing this as it does it for all my poems. Let me figure it out! It is harder to see the form without the correct spacing. Thank you again!

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      • WP often messes with my formatting, too. I’ve found that if I write somewhere else ( I use Write RT) and then copy and paste, the formatting seems to stick better. If I copy and paste a properly formatted WP post back into WP it seems to destroy the formatting. It’s a bit annoying. I don’t know if there is a way of feeding back to WP. There are a lot of poets here, and we must all have similar issues.

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        • I would give WP feedback however their app shuts down when I try to access the help section! 😂😳 maybe I should try different word processing software. I just use “notes” and WP doesn’t seem to like that. I will have to check out Write RT – I haven’t heard of that program before. Thank you!

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  6. Beautifully written pantoum Irma. I love how you add your thoughts after a poem. Forgiveness has been part of my life too, many challenges gave me the opportunity to forgive or not. I cannot live with anger in my heart, not forgiving someone, holding a grudge makes me sick literally. My body has taught me this. Forgiveness is a blessing for us personally as well as for those we forgive.

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  7. Nice pantoum Irma, and it goes extremely well with the picture from Hélène’s site. Well done! I wrote my first response to that picture this week in Hélène’s “what do you see” post, It was fun! Like your piece here.

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  8. As I know nothing about poetry (I failed it in English class, lol), I will just say that I wish my brother could read your words. It’s been almost 7 years since I spoke to him.

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    • I’m so sorry about your brother. Sometimes people stay away because they don’t realize that the other wants to reconnect. Or sometimes people are just too stubborn. Ego can be such an awful thing to have. Hugs to you my friend!! 💜💜

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  13. The repetitive nature of this form made this like both a rumination and a meditation. I like what you’ve done here. I don’t have any constructive feedback, as I’m far from an expert on the style. I think your first stanza was extremely strong.

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  14. Pingback: What do you See? Roundup Feb/26/2019 | Willow Poetry

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