Poems Inspired by Wendell Berry
#WendellBerry
Poems inspired by American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist Wendell Berry. Here you'll find poetry using the style, themes or characters found in the writing and poems of Wendell Berry. Along with poems about Berry himself, including praise, criticism and tributes.
Heaven_sent_Kathy
Poem Published
29th Oct 2019 8:07am
29th Oct 2019 8:07am
A Spirit That Needs Nothing
( after Wendell Berry )
And the gods are loose their powers,
and have nothing to guide by in their folly.
So piteous their pride, forgetting how it was.
They have nothing to free us from ourselves.
The aura divides, the fire eats the seasons,
turning us from false oaths and rites
that make it worse by which we embrace.
Abandon what we knew by Nature’s instincts
that now burn the scrolls of the temple,
that deem we lose our way, for nothing is simple.
So it is written where it cannot be seen....
And the gods are loose their powers,
and have nothing to guide by in their folly.
So piteous their pride, forgetting how it was.
They have nothing to free us from ourselves.
The aura divides, the fire eats the seasons,
turning us from false oaths and rites
that make it worse by which we embrace.
Abandon what we knew by Nature’s instincts
that now burn the scrolls of the temple,
that deem we lose our way, for nothing is simple.
So it is written where it cannot be seen....
#fall
#fire
#nature
#WendellBerry
#TruthOfLife
508 reads
2 Comments
slipalong
Poem Published
16th Oct 2019 9:27am
16th Oct 2019 9:27am
Motherhood # Wendell Berry
At five AM the cock had crowed
Petticoats with small pink bows
Tousled hair like tangled straw
Shout up the stairs "now wake up boys"
That mirrors dirt that hides the years
Put it on the list of chores
Pout your lips and blush your cheeks
The rouge fresh air applies for free
Eggs and bacon dance in the pan with glee
That nurcher is my bond my pride
It springs, that flow will not subside
My motherhood of breasts that will provide
Trace of smile across my lips
The heaviness around my hips ...
Petticoats with small pink bows
Tousled hair like tangled straw
Shout up the stairs "now wake up boys"
That mirrors dirt that hides the years
Put it on the list of chores
Pout your lips and blush your cheeks
The rouge fresh air applies for free
Eggs and bacon dance in the pan with glee
That nurcher is my bond my pride
It springs, that flow will not subside
My motherhood of breasts that will provide
Trace of smile across my lips
The heaviness around my hips ...
#love
#family
#WendellBerry
463 reads
1 Comment
PoetsRevenge
Poem Published
30th Jul 2019 1:22am
30th Jul 2019 1:22am
The Country Of Marriage (And Love)
There are no unsacred places,
only sacred places, and desecrated places '
- Wendell Berry
I
In the country where arose
the soft grasses bearing your name
in their blooming stalks, I imagined
myself walking into the heart of
the yellow cover crop, bare.
II
Flitting by, a songbird was your spirit
Its chirping breaking the soft lull of
wind through your hair, dancing with
purple specks of tiny flowers barely known of; ...
only sacred places, and desecrated places '
- Wendell Berry
I
In the country where arose
the soft grasses bearing your name
in their blooming stalks, I imagined
myself walking into the heart of
the yellow cover crop, bare.
II
Flitting by, a songbird was your spirit
Its chirping breaking the soft lull of
wind through your hair, dancing with
purple specks of tiny flowers barely known of; ...
#love
#marriage
#countryside
#nature
#WendellBerry
620 reads
14 Comments
eswaller
Poem Published
29th Jul 2019 8:45pm
29th Jul 2019 8:45pm
The Promise of Marriage (Wendell Berry Tribute)
I dreamt of you walking towards me
As you leave the shadows behind and
The lights within your soul are brighter.
I want to meet you alongside the river’s
Edge – my sanctuary and where I see
Us building our first home. My hand
Wants to touch your skin – an igniter,
A spark and something that delivers
Its promise of protecting us. I was just
A wanderer, lost and unsure of where
I was going next, but then you came
Wearing your heart on your sleeve.
Your willing heart craved wanderlust
Too. You are a woman with...
As you leave the shadows behind and
The lights within your soul are brighter.
I want to meet you alongside the river’s
Edge – my sanctuary and where I see
Us building our first home. My hand
Wants to touch your skin – an igniter,
A spark and something that delivers
Its promise of protecting us. I was just
A wanderer, lost and unsure of where
I was going next, but then you came
Wearing your heart on your sleeve.
Your willing heart craved wanderlust
Too. You are a woman with...
#love
#marriage
#nature #WendellBerry
#nature #WendellBerry
1117 reads
6 Comments
PoetsRevenge
Poem Published
25th Jul 2019 2:42am
25th Jul 2019 2:42am
The Silence (Of All Things)
Let me not mourn the
silence of the passing
on of the seasons
Of fruiting, of branching out;
the unnaming of leaves
and a language thereof
Speaking into the world's ear,
golden to itself in color.
It lives in the death
rooted in the incomprehensible,
singing aloud its call
to be harvested.
Let the world not name
This song, but receive
its muted melody.
Let the trifles of words
not belabor this:
Its speech that has no sound
Remains undefined in
Mans' concrete terms...
silence of the passing
on of the seasons
Of fruiting, of branching out;
the unnaming of leaves
and a language thereof
Speaking into the world's ear,
golden to itself in color.
It lives in the death
rooted in the incomprehensible,
singing aloud its call
to be harvested.
Let the world not name
This song, but receive
its muted melody.
Let the trifles of words
not belabor this:
Its speech that has no sound
Remains undefined in
Mans' concrete terms...
#nature
#LifeCycle
#WendellBerry
515 reads
6 Comments
JohnnyBlaze
Poem Published
23rd Jul 2019 10:18pm
23rd Jul 2019 10:18pm
[ CC ] You Should Be Ashamed
for the flaming framing devices you use
falsely re-presenting views of others
[c]over[ing] gaping holes in crooked walls
exposed by your very own warped logic.
Such arguments built upon shoddy foundation
are no excuse for misconstruing their words.
It's no wonder not even the Amish welcome
your assistance in razing their barns---
simple, direct and honest folk don't take
a shine to defending themselves from lies
in the courthouse of public opinionation---
each nail you're hammering in...
falsely re-presenting views of others
[c]over[ing] gaping holes in crooked walls
exposed by your very own warped logic.
Such arguments built upon shoddy foundation
are no excuse for misconstruing their words.
It's no wonder not even the Amish welcome
your assistance in razing their barns---
simple, direct and honest folk don't take
a shine to defending themselves from lies
in the courthouse of public opinionation---
each nail you're hammering in...
#lies
#politics
#WendellBerry
570 reads
7 Comments
PoetsRevenge
Poem Published
15th Jul 2019 4:28am
15th Jul 2019 4:28am
What We Need Is Here (Found Within)
The land in the eye is clear
not clouded, like the
numerical sum of its parts
Here, in the ancient waters
free of tallied reasons,
free in the mind's vastness.
Fearing not the infinite,
Heaven within The Earth
hides in a hill, unremarkable;
Faith appears above
as a bird, flying
into a sky which closes
Around it hiding reasons
to try for that which it needs.
Its abandon, it finds,
is hidden but everywhere,
embedded in everything.
.....
...
not clouded, like the
numerical sum of its parts
Here, in the ancient waters
free of tallied reasons,
free in the mind's vastness.
Fearing not the infinite,
Heaven within The Earth
hides in a hill, unremarkable;
Faith appears above
as a bird, flying
into a sky which closes
Around it hiding reasons
to try for that which it needs.
Its abandon, it finds,
is hidden but everywhere,
embedded in everything.
.....
...
#earth
#nature
#spiritual #WendellBerry
#spiritual #WendellBerry
468 reads
11 Comments
Jade-Pandora
jade tiger
jade tiger
Poem Published
10th Jul 2019 2:57pm
10th Jul 2019 2:57pm
A Rhapsody’s Silhouette
( after Wendell Berry )
Overhead,
a crow and I connect
as his black silhouette
wings its way
by glory of midday.
But he won’t know
about you and I, my love
in his trajectory above.
Made closer by his tack,
he knows not of us
nor we of each passing,
with black wings
beating a message
in the sun.
Though far apart you & I
we share the...
Overhead,
a crow and I connect
as his black silhouette
wings its way
by glory of midday.
But he won’t know
about you and I, my love
in his trajectory above.
Made closer by his tack,
he knows not of us
nor we of each passing,
with black wings
beating a message
in the sun.
Though far apart you & I
we share the...
#love
#earth
#birds
#nature
#WendellBerry
606 reads
16 Comments
slipalong
Poem Published
9th Jul 2019 10:00pm
9th Jul 2019 10:00pm
Terra Firma
For he stood so tall so square and looked across the acreage
Countenanced all that panorama, it seemed endangered
The heavy horse the last to graze straw bales
He lifted up the old straw hat and scratch his pate
His disquiet, wrinkled brow like furrows in the field
The bees that seek the pollen, a wasp that agitates
We must he thought, let nature evolve at its own pace
But short term gains mean fields turned into plains
The engines belched out smoke, the crows flew up and squawked
Divorced from dirty hands the reaper smash...
Countenanced all that panorama, it seemed endangered
The heavy horse the last to graze straw bales
He lifted up the old straw hat and scratch his pate
His disquiet, wrinkled brow like furrows in the field
The bees that seek the pollen, a wasp that agitates
We must he thought, let nature evolve at its own pace
But short term gains mean fields turned into plains
The engines belched out smoke, the crows flew up and squawked
Divorced from dirty hands the reaper smash...
#nature
#evolution
#WendellBerry
497 reads
7 Comments
Heaven_sent_Kathy
Poem Published
6th Jul 2019 2:51pm
6th Jul 2019 2:51pm
A Small Town in its Last Summer
( after Wendell Berry )
There is a darkness that changes a town.
And shades of transgressions that remain,
even after the night has relinquished.
The pale, fading crescent of its moon
watches the same lone farmer,
out before the first streaks of dawn.
He carries a bucket in each hand,
heading to the barn on his farm
on the outskirts of a town
who’s residents were raised
on a privilege of fear,
King James verse, and the Almanac.
He follows his quiet thoughts, and shadow
that stretches before each step...
There is a darkness that changes a town.
And shades of transgressions that remain,
even after the night has relinquished.
The pale, fading crescent of its moon
watches the same lone farmer,
out before the first streaks of dawn.
He carries a bucket in each hand,
heading to the barn on his farm
on the outskirts of a town
who’s residents were raised
on a privilege of fear,
King James verse, and the Almanac.
He follows his quiet thoughts, and shadow
that stretches before each step...
#countryside
#nature
#humankind #WendellBerry
#humankind #WendellBerry
625 reads
12 Comments
Ahavati
Poem Published
6th Jul 2019 11:07am
6th Jul 2019 11:07am
The Apple Tree ( After Wendell Berry )
Heavy in native headdress,
blossoms preside
over barren forsythia,
while cork-vined Chinese wisteria
gnarl about branches
English Ivy accessorizes the trunk;
some things are pruned,
while others grow deep
tango wildly
between fire and root
They solder one ring
after another outward
from below;
an ancient womb
of knowledge and lore
the first humans tasted
lifetimes ago:
one in trust
the other, love
~
...
blossoms preside
over barren forsythia,
while cork-vined Chinese wisteria
gnarl about branches
English Ivy accessorizes the trunk;
some things are pruned,
while others grow deep
tango wildly
between fire and root
They solder one ring
after another outward
from below;
an ancient womb
of knowledge and lore
the first humans tasted
lifetimes ago:
one in trust
the other, love
~
...
#trees
#nature
#spiritual
#LifeCycle
#WendellBerry
927 reads
23 Comments
JohnnyBlaze
Poem Published
4th Jul 2019 2:51am
4th Jul 2019 2:51am
[ CC ] Monsters
You must look Medusa in the eyes
and becoming stone, take pity on her---
for she was not born, but made a monster
What other choices do the Gods proffer?
By using her ugliness to slay a Kraken
you become hardened in heart as well
Treat her as you would an enemy or friend
but if she is only to be a means to an end
then you have not learned your lesson
and risk losing your pretty little head
to the next Perseus that comes along
and becoming stone, take pity on her---
for she was not born, but made a monster
What other choices do the Gods proffer?
By using her ugliness to slay a Kraken
you become hardened in heart as well
Treat her as you would an enemy or friend
but if she is only to be a means to an end
then you have not learned your lesson
and risk losing your pretty little head
to the next Perseus that comes along
#beauty
#monsters
#WendellBerry
688 reads
11 Comments
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