Grandmother Ghost in the Brush Strokes, by Naomi Ruth Lowinsky

Grandmother ghost in the brush strokes
Grandmother glow in the sky
Grandmother weeping willow
Grandmother breath of the mountain

Grandmother glow in the sky
Burning snake in the house
Grandmother breath of the mountain
Snake on fire in the grasses

Burning snake in the house
Nothing will be what it was
Snake on fire in the grasses
Fire between brother and brother

Nothing will be as it was
Ghosts are smoke and ashes
Fire between brother and sister
Mother has wandered away

Ghosts are ashes and brush strokes
How long do embers stay hot?
Mother has wandered away
How long will it be ‘til spring?

How long do embers stay hot?
O grandmother weeping willow?
How long will it be ‘til spring?
I gaze at your ghost in the brush strokes

***

Naomi Ruth Lowinsky’s chapbook, The Little House on Stilts Remembers, won the Blue Light Poetry Prize. Her fourth full length collection, The Faust Woman Poems, trace one woman’s Faustian adventures during the 1960s and ‘70s, through Women’s Liberation and the return of the Goddess. Her memoir, The Sister from Below: When the Muse Gets Her Way tells stories about her pushy muse. A new collection of essays, The Rabbi, the Goddess and Jung: Getting the Word from Within is forthcoming.

Lowinsky is a Jungian Analyst. She blogs about poetry and life at sisterfrombelow.com.

Photo by Nora Lowinsky