Lost in Action

My heart wanted what
it wanted despite
you’re seeming to leave
and be lost to me
but you were still there
and now, don’t you see
I too have remained-
– all fidelity.

Those first months did
my life course change.
in ways I’d not believe
– your true self amid
so many revealed
and when others hid
that loving from me
your truth I’d still see…

© Andrew Wilson, 2024

Over at dVerse Poets Pub, Laura Bloomsbury in Meeting the Bar: Critique and Craft, invites us to write an Octameter for August and Sara Teasdale – it being the 8th month and the birthday of Sara Teasdale (8/8/1884). “Teasdale’s work has been characterized by its simplicity and clarity, her use of classical forms, and her passionate and romantic subject matter.” [https://poets.org/poet/sara-teasdale] and as Laura points out “Love, life, beauty and death are the hallmarks of much of Teasdale’s poetry which is unsurprising given that she lived through wartime as a young woman. Even so she avoids the maudlin in an upbeat way…”
This poem is a homage to Sara Teasdale.

16 thoughts on “Lost in Action

  • August 9, 2024 at 8:39 am
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    I enjoyed your homage to Sara Teasdale, Andrew, and I love the direct address, especially in the lines:
    ‘but you were still there
    and now, don’t you see
    I too have remained-
    – all fidelity.’

    Reply
    • August 9, 2024 at 9:08 am
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      Thanks, Kim, I was trying to emulate her simplicity and directness…

      Reply
  • August 9, 2024 at 9:19 am
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    A brilliant octometer Frewin.Longing and resolve nicely entertwined

    much♡love

    Reply
    • August 9, 2024 at 10:17 pm
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      Thanks for visiting Gillena
      Much Love xx

      Reply
    • August 9, 2024 at 2:07 pm
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      Thank you so much, Merril…

      Reply
  • August 9, 2024 at 1:11 pm
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    Wonderfully rendered poetry filled with longing and truth.

    Reply
    • August 9, 2024 at 2:05 pm
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      Thanks, Truedessa…

      Reply
  • August 9, 2024 at 1:55 pm
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    This reads like one of those poems that’s too full of emotion to be constrained by a narrow form. I’d be tempted to give it wings.

    Reply
    • August 9, 2024 at 2:02 pm
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      You may be right Jane – I know we are mostly encouraged to edit down and distill but sometimes a poem needs to go the other way…

      Reply
  • August 9, 2024 at 7:39 pm
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    This is marvellous! I enjoyed reading and re-reading this poem and am so glad you did a homage poem because it fits so beautifully since you kept to the simplicity and clarity of Teasdale too. I

    Reply
    • August 9, 2024 at 10:18 pm
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      Thanks, Laura, I enjoyed discovering Teasdale so an homage in the fullest sense of the prompt was the way to go…

      Reply
  • August 10, 2024 at 6:47 pm
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    Very nice, Andrew. I wasn’t sure if it would work out in the beginning.

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    • August 10, 2024 at 7:05 pm
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      Nothing like a cliffhanger, Robbie…

      Reply
  • August 17, 2024 at 12:09 am
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    I can taste the longing in this, Andrew.

    Reply

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