Monday, July 18, 2011

Inspired by this...A New Kind of Map

Inspired this evening by this marvelous post by Rima Staines, I followed her links to the dark mountain.  Inspired by what I read there a little while ago...I wrote this poem off the top of my head.  It really is straight off the top of my head, because I always have this illogical feeling that it will somehow be magic if only I just don't think about it too much, so I write the first thing that comes into my head.  The phrase that came into my head when reading the dark mountain manifesto was "we need a new kind of map"...and being rather enamored of the idea of maps, I went from there to see where it would go.  I suppose we can consider it a first draft, though as I said, I always feel it loses something if you fiddle about with it too much...........


I Wished for a New Kind of Map

I wished for a new kind of map 
one marked ‘here dance’ and ‘now crawl here’
a path of bread crumbs to follow to a stream I can drink from
and not fear what’s in it.

I wished for a new kind of map
with no names but only the ones that came to me as I passed
whispered by the trees, the rocks and knowing
I heard them as I hear you.

I wished for a new kind of map
that requires an old canvas swag and a tongue full of songs
no tyre tracks, only spiralling footprints winding the ways
of those who have gone before.

I wished for a new kind of map
changing with each unfolding
what use is a page that tells the same lie each time?
Where’s the journey in that?

I wished for a new kind of map
that might lead me to a different when as well as where
and if I dance where yesterday I walked, I might arrive
in a stranger place than before.

I wished for a new kind of map,
though indeed, it is the oldest kind of all
the soft re-membering of my eyes to places new
yet beloved and long lost.

I wished for a new kind of map
that showed the spaces between the roads, and not the roads at all
and marked the wilds where wilds once were
and marking made them so.

I wished for a new kind of map
in a song I can sing and be sung to
in a story that tells me I am
on a journey that has no end.


Christina Cairns © 2011

12 comments:

Mo Crow said...

these are beautiful words Christina
Dreamweaver began this map of dreams last year
http://mapofdreams.org/

Jean said...

I love it and don't fiddle with it. Leave it just the way it is.

Von said...

GreaT!!!Don't change a word.Rima's post was lovely too.

Maery Rose said...

I've been absent for awhile but was drawn here by your map. It's a beautiful poem that expresses so well a kind of longing for a different way of being.

Charlotte said...

It is magical.

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

Love this.
Rima always inspires magic.

Claire said...

wow! i love it! i wouldn't change a word :)
and i popped over to rima's, read her post, and duly ordered the book!!
thank you so much for this :) xxx

Lou Smith said...

Hello
How surprising and lovely to stumble upon your magical space here. I too am waiting for the new Dark Mountain book to arrive.
Your poem is heartfelt, splendid, ecstatic...

herhimnbryn said...

Your map is beautiful.

After I read of your map, I followed your link to Rima's map. Thankyou.

Anne said...

Beautiful...:)

I love Rima's blog too..:)

Barry said...

MiA - the map of our unique soul? B

Cherry Jeffs said...

I was very inspired by Rima's post and the Dark Mountain Manifesto and now, by chance, I've stumbled across your map which echoes those same feelings and longings very beautifully :)

I love the concept of a mermaid in the attic as well...Perhaps I'm one...my studio is in the attic and I'm a Pisces :)

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