BENDING VELOCITY

the essence at hand 

abandons every demand 

silenced voices on the highest ledge

gravity incites a nudge

leads the inspired urge

fly's the spirit, feeds a need

where a dream once held the key 

a beauty shattered piece by piece

the heart of a diamond refusing to beat 

held tight inside clasped hands 

fingers grip and squeeze 

the jagged slivers cut shrewdly

trading fractures in a precious jewel

for handfuls of moot

the sparkling debris shroud weeping eyes

I left my love 

for a chance to fly 

the promise inside everything 

and nothing more than sky

soft whispers liberate the plunge into flight

desire drives the enchanted ride

wings unfold to soar over great divide 

Terry D'Arcy-Ryan

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

The words danced to a perfect ending. You told a tale and led the reader to a proper place. Thank you dear friend for sharing the amazing poetry.
Coyote

[Nipplegrinder]

Exquisitely painful. This sounds like the final flight, from a love that faded, not burned out. As always, word choice is stout.
Though, "jagged slivers cut shrewd".
Should it be, "shrewdly"?
I love this piece.

[TerryDarcy-Ryan akaSheerTerror]

Over the years, a piece here and a piece there. We tried to hold on to them, possess them fill with anger, resentment and hate. In the end those are all trivial all that matters is the peace you embrace so you can let go. My carved heart is beating better than ever no final flight. Thank you

Sheer Terror

[TerryDarcy-Ryan akaSheerTerror]

Thank you for the suggestion, yes
"shrewdly" works better.

Sheer Terror

[Weeping willow]

Beautiful write,inspiring words ;-] enjoyed

[TerryDarcy-Ryan akaSheerTerror]

Weeping Willow I do appreciate your review. Thank you.

Sheer Terror

[sette]

wow the triumph at the end is what makes it a fascinating piece to read

[TerryDarcy-Ryan akaSheerTerror]

Thank you very much Sette.

Sheer Terror

[Annette Pisano-Higley]

Balancing precariously but triumphantly on the edge of-Everything! Love the power and liberation of your eloquent words my friend. Brilliant metaphor and imagery- the picture matched perfectly. When we free ourselves of the trappings, we fly, soar in the truth...Brava!

[TerryDarcy-Ryan akaSheerTerror]

Bending Velocity is all about the force that is life. Thank you for such a strong review.
read moreBending Velocity is all about the force that is life. Thank you for such a strong review.

Sheer Terror

[Annette Pisano-Higley]

You are very welcome. Carpe diem!

[Gaurav]

every moment can be lived to the fullest if one's hope is free and there is a vast sky in from to fly. Yes the vast horizon. Your poem has pertinent lines that awakens the thoughts.

[TerryDarcy-Ryan akaSheerTerror]

Thank you for the beautiful review

Sheer Terror

[drew garner]

I think this is good, I just reread it, and I will try to be concise, coherent and specific. To me, I thought this is about how someone is leaving behind the past so that they can live their life as they see fit. All the while the uncertainty involved makes it seem like a suicide note. With the Very ambiguous relationship of the ultimate outcome making it feel poetic for lack of another word. But the fact that in my mind your words can accommodate a multitude of meanings is the reason I like it so much, that this poem is out of reach far beyond my simple reduction.
My definition of poetry is a life that gives life. And nothing humans create (with the semblance of meaning at least) in the arts gives life quite like non-reductive words. And I feel that one-sided meaning is reductive and takes away from the ability of people to be engaged in and proactive in the creation of poetry. It is like that old saying one hand washes the other. I feel like you have reached out your hand and shared a genuine part of your soul and that takes courage, and the fact I can't ultimately reduce it while still feeling it is relatable is why I think it is beautiful.
One other thing since I am in the mood to be genuine (which is to say pretentious) what I mean by nonreductive words is how if two things are the same then one of them is unnecessary. If a poem is reducible to a one-sentence synopsis than all the words that lead to the conclusion are unnecessary. In my awkward way, I am trying to say when a poem transcends the reduction of meaning it becomes an act of life itself. Something that is living and one day will fade to death like all the rest of us but in its ambiguity became the catalyst of choice for some other individual even if just for a moment to be alive and share life. In conclusion, I would like to say thank you for letting me be allowed to bear witness to the moment.

[TerryDarcy-Ryan akaSheerTerror]

Magnificent, I enjoyed reading your interpretation including reason and logic.
Suicide would be way too easy. Instead I keep the endless dare to live well past something that should have killed me. Now, and until I take my last breath I will shake everything out of this life and write about it. Life is a force. This force is effected by position, direction, extreme changes, time and our connection with it. We engineer this force.
Climbing to a great height is a work out. To conserve your strength you concentrate and withdrawal, leave nonsense behind.
" the essences at hand
abandons every demand
silenced on the highest ledge "
During your climb you can feel the pull of gravity as you get higher and higher. Gravity moves and nudges with a beg to jump. At the same time you are driven by spirit and a feeling powerful.
" gravity incites a nudge
leads the inspired urge
fly's the spirit feeds the need "
You achieve your goal a birds view onto the horizon, of course you brought some of the weight of the world with you. I have let life mold my heart to be hard and cold. I have love for my children and passion to write. However I am cold, hard and sometimes jaded. This I know is a defense mechanism of my own making.
Time takes away everything, slowly and for that I am great-full. There are times I do not know the face staring back at me, I have changed so much.
" where a dream once held the key
a beauty shattered piece by piece "
With a heart made so hard I sometimes picture holding a diamond the size of my palm squeezing trying to crush or bring back to the soft shape of a valentine. It does not matter though the force of my indecision leaves my heart to be insignificant.
" the heart of a diamond refusing to beat
held tight inside clasped hands
fingers grip and squeeze
jagged sliver cut shrewd
trading fractures in a precious jewel
for handfuls of moot "
So any view and any solace I may find at first is
strangled by reminisce the past will find me and it is filled with regret and awe.
When I was a young girl love was defined as something in constant motion, it is everywhere, it is rare and it is what everyone wants. I know the love for my children and it is enormous, but I cannot define to you how love should between two willing adults. This sounds dramatic and it could be just me. The happiest time with most of my exes was the getaway.
" the sparkling debris shroud weeping eyes
i left my love for a chance to fly
the promise inside everything
and nothing more than sky "
Now that you got memory lane out of your head you fall in deep, gazing the sky dreaming with eyes wide open. To change the force that is you in a single bend with bare feet walk the rail and your are as close as you can get to flying. ( and there is always that little urge to jump )
" soft whispers liberate the plunge into flight
desire drives an enchanted ride
wings unfold to soar over great divide "
When I first started writing poetry i used to refer to love as the great divide.

Thank You

Sheer Terror

[drew garner]

your welcome

[Pete]

pure magic. captivating, as we dangle on the edge with your theme. i am never disappointed on a journey with your words. every line a pure gem. love the title and pic too. awesomeness ... :)

"for handfuls of moot" - favorite

[TerryDarcy-Ryan akaSheerTerror]

Pete, the climb begins, the first three lines. You begin to isolate, tune out, withdraw by the time you reach the ledge the voices are silenced. Gravity has a wicked force. you feel it pull weaken your stance have you wishing you could jump. The isolation of reflection looks behind, the journey so far. The disintegration of youth, beauty and a heart. "the heart of a diamond refusing to beat" that is how hard we can become, still we hold our heart however hard in our hand and it cuts us as harshly as the defensive cuts to others. If you dwell in this place too long it will be nothing, mourn when you should and move on.
Love is tricky, misleading, and wonderful. Yet, in the past it was traded away for everything and nothing. The great divide that I used to refer to is the love anyone claimed they had for me in my earlier poetry. It seemed appropriate here. The photograph, I just Love it it is perfect.
Your reviews are amazing. I am working on a piece now I hope to post tonight. I was actually reading through Thoreau quotes I would enjoy another of his quotes, to drive a point home. The piece is about being fearless and justifying actions.
Thank you Pete.

Sheer Terror

[Pete]

How 'bout:
“Behave so the aroma of your actions may enhance the general sweetness of the atmosphere.”
or

"People die of fright and live of confidence."

[TerryDarcy-Ryan akaSheerTerror]

Hey, I like the second one alot.... I found
" not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves " I really like the second one of yours. Well thank you we shall see how this rolls out.
Peace

Sheer Terror

[wordman]

reminded me of the biggest tree in north carolina that i climbed,,a new high

[TerryDarcy-Ryan akaSheerTerror]

Wordman, thank you for the review.

Sheer Terror

[wordman]

you`re welcome

[Davidgeo]

Sounds like a suicide dive.

[TerryDarcy-Ryan akaSheerTerror]

Have you ever climbed really high? It changes the rest of the world. Silence, the pull of gravity, realization of just how small we are all the while urge to fly knocking at the door. Now, seriously I would never give in to it.
I wouldn't take the dive I love to repel too much. No one get out here alive. Thank you for stopping by.

Sheer Terror

[Davidgeo]

I've been pretty high up a few times, yes. It is not very quiet where I climb the highest though, it's generally a bit windy up there. I also used to do a bit of repelling when I was in the Army. Being stationed at Ft Campbell generally means you will be repelling out of a helicopter at some point in time at a place called Air Assault School... which is also not at all silent. My experience with heights seems to have been significantly differently than yours.

[TerryDarcy-Ryan akaSheerTerror]

Awe, just different parts of the world and I tend to block things out, stay deep in the mind. Az not so windy even high up. Ft Campbell isn't that home of the screaming eagle ? I was stationed at Ft Rucker,
for training, boy the summers there are awful.
Air Assault school I never got to do anything that cool. My mos was Air Traffic Controller. A lifetime ago. Peace

Sheer Terror

[Davidgeo]

Indeed it is the home of the 101st (the eagle looks like a choking chicken sometimes). My mos was field artillery(13b); it was a b***h sling loading howitzers with helicopters... but also fun in a "i'm glad I don't have to do that s**t anymore" kind of way.

Your mos is actually extremely valuable these days. Some of your modern day equivalent's do now go to the cool schools like Pathfinder and Air Assault. . . setting up a makeshift drop zone is one of the most valuable skills to a military that prides itself on mobility. One of the claims to fame of my old division was that we could deploy the entire division, combat ready, anywhere in the world inside 48 hours (which is a logistical miracle all things considered). That wouldn't really work, at all, without your mos.

[Davidgeo]

By the way, that dude in the red shirt who also commented, Wordman… he's one of those "stolen valor" cats. A long time ago he said some things about his "service" that didn't make sense so I looked into him... he never served, not a single day. But he'll tell you he was a Vietnam vet who saw some "s**t"... yeah... that dude's a total fraud.

[TerryDarcy-Ryan akaSheerTerror]

ATC, I loved the service, even though I have family, I become part of something that is just as important. I became part of a weapon, a Unit, a squad brothers and sisters. When I went thru school all 92hotels were crossed trained for setting up tactile towers to assist in strategic movement. During desert storm I received a letter regarding a shortage of 92hotels, I was raising three children alone. I would have been honored to go. I know nothing about red-shirt, I always appreciate his review. My first husband was a screaming eagle he was such a military man that we got married on veterans day. He sucked as a husband but he was a great soldier. For that reason I hate when people lie about such a thing. Peace

Sheer Terror

[Davidgeo]

Most good soldiers tend to suck at being husbands.

[TerryDarcy-Ryan akaSheerTerror]

Oh, well yeah I get it being a soldier is way more fun when you only answer to one master.

[Davidgeo]

That's not why they suck at being husbands.

[TerryDarcy-Ryan akaSheerTerror]

oh you mean that they are always gone and what happens ... stays there. Lots of drinking and realization that you will never be on the inside with him. am I getting warmer

[Davidgeo]

Something like that.

It's not as insidious as it sounds though. Civilian life just doesn't really line up with high tempo active duty military life. None the less, a good person will always be a good person and most career military men aren't actually bad husbands. But that lifestyle can bring out the worst in you if you're not careful. Lots of ego, lots of pride, and lots of impulsive behavior during the off times. It doesn't have to be bad though.

[TerryDarcy-Ryan akaSheerTerror]

You are right. Civilian, it is an odd thing to go back on a base as a civilian just a wife and mother not a soldier. Number one husband had alot of heart. A persons character, in this I find myself in constant disappointment. My expectations maybe to high and knowing that I am still disappointed. This is going to sound old however the generation coming up my children and nephews. They want nothing to do with the service, government, voting. They want everything the instant gratification, documentation of every waking moment and think they know something. I would like to put birth control in the school drinking fountain and have any young ones without a direction or ambition join the service. A school to learn unity, patriotism, honor and how much we pay for freedom. The leader of the freeworld is Donald Trump, every time he speaks or twitters my blood pressure goes up. He is a poor excuse for a man that should be and act respectful. The president should be above reproach. The world has gone crazy.