Viscerally

By my intimacy with nature I find myself withdrawn from man. My interest in the sun and the moon, in the morning and the evening, compels me to solitude. - Thoreau

i want to feel ...

spring's willingness

summer's sudor

autumn's tumble

winter's gelidity

faith's prowess

hope's desire

a virgin forests' pristine briar

i want to feel ...

the tide's trace

tears dribbling down my gnarled face

living's braille

a coffin's nail

heaven's hail

hell's fire

so that i'll know

i'm not a boldfaced liar

i want to feel ...

the leaves of a vascular fern

a stomach's unexpected, regurgitative churn

a flavorful cigarette's cancerous burn

the gall of knowing and the struggle to learn

deep love and undying concern

all without having to wait my turn

i want to feel ...

a bent, praying knee

a blind, livid, thrashing sea

the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat

a running nose, itchy eyes and calloused feet

a bee's irrational sting

what tomorrow will bring

i want to feel ..

anything

and

everything ...

Author's Note

"In summer we live out of doors, and have only impulses and feelings, which are all for action, and must wait commonly for the stillness and longer nights of autumn and winter before any thought will subside; we are sensible that behind the rustling leaves, and the stacks of grain, and the bare clusters of the grape, there is the field of a wholly new life, which no man has lived; that even this earth was made for more mysterious and nobler inhabitants than men and women. In the hues of October sunsets, we see the portals to other mansions than those which we occupy." - Thoreau

Reviews

[Andrew Golding]

I love it! I'm not always really a poetry guy, but this poem rings true to me. The language is expressive and precise, following a pleasant form without being constrictive. The writing conveys your deep passion for life and insatiable desire to experience all of it. Your enthusiasm makes the whole game, with all of its variegated occurrences: good, bad and yet to be defined, seem rather enticing.

"God is an experience junkie," (the polemic put forth by Chester the Reluctant Messenger) with regard to the why of it all, is the reductive version, but not nearly as eloquently and artfully stated as your poem. You make a good case for existence, and it would be cynical and iniquitous of me to attempt to dissuade you. Carry on with your lovely self!

[Pete]

you're too kind. such a great, intuitive and cerebral review! you clearly were touched by it and it is appreciated. i also like that you mention god as the lowest common denominator of it all. "carry on" - i will indeed. thank you.

[Kelly Scheppers]

That's quite an impressive list, Pete. Very articulate. To lose the sense of feeling, anything for that matter, would be the end of us all.

[Pete]

ain't that the truth. to live is to feel and to feel is to live. thanks as always kelly. keep well as summer draws to a close with its last hurrah.

[Betty Hermelee]

Well Pete, I think you’re just asking for too much! you know you can’t have everything! kidding aside, this is a stunning write and includes almost everything i can think of… oh! wouldn’t it be great to want to feel all those things…. and perhaps some day we will. love your words, very esoteric in a way…..
Warmly, B🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷

[Pete]

true, lol. as my muse thoreau wrote in the 1800's - "I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms...” thanks for sharing thoughts.

[Betty Hermelee]

Most welcome my friend!
Warmly, B

[Thomas W Case]

Superb work. Powerful writing, my friend.

[Pete]

wow! thanks twc. good to "see" 'ya.

[Sami Khalil]

Wow!
A strong, powerful poem full of life and vigor.
Nothing like the experience we get when we feel all life and Nature has to offer.
The poet is immersing himself.

[Pete]

thanks. to live is to feel methinks.

[Sami Khalil]

I wholeheartedly agree. You know it sir Pete