This poem was written during one of my recent Writing from the Deep Voice workshops. It was created in response to the Absence of Field exercise, which was invented by Jack Grapes to help the writer create language where there is no field; field as defined in quantum physics. So words are quarks and electrons; phrases, the atoms. The task in this exercise is to break up the field. Imagine two magnets that repel rather than attract. In the following work, the poet has broken up the field with the use of language and also the arrangement of words. We spent the entire semester putting words in pleasing order, in rational and emotional order and now with Absence of Field, we blow it apart. 

                                 — Kathrin Seitz 

Full Circle

Clouds in tea cups

    Melting like midnight

         Into a starless sky

               Been there—done that

                   Strange painter of a melting, slinky world

                        Who can navigate

                              The eye of that needle?

Be lost and found at the same time

       Like a pair of someone else’s mittens

             A whittled old man

                  Drifting into a fog bank

                        Emerging into the sunlight

                               At the sound of a bugle

                                     The flap of a flag.

Nowhere and everywhere

       Starting from scratch

              With a long list of ingredients

                      Buzzards circle high above

                             Riding the updrafts

                                    Clouds are mirrored in the still water below

                                               The sky is indeed fallen

And the sly wind whispers

                     No more—enough

                                  No more—enough

Burned at the stake

     La Sage Femme, she was burned alive.

            We all watched as the witch struck the match

                   She lit the pyre, set it ablaze

                         Pointing her boney finger at the crowd

                                Screaming insane epithets

                                       Dancing on insecure feet, stomping a steady earth.

Yellow dust rising like Sulphur

                 Filling our nostrils

                             the stink of burning flesh

                                           We are all witnessing a butchery

                                                         The Scylla or the Whirlpool?

                                                                           Six dead or the entire ship lost?

                                                                                   Choose carefully Traveler.

The path is never clear

        The journey never easy

              Redemption is a bitter pill

                    You are being moved by a chain of stars

                           More purpose awaits

                                Flowing with your New Moon energy

                                           Being called into existence by and old friend.

 Linda Zeigler moved to Camden with her husband and two children 35 years ago. She began her working life as a registered nurse and enjoyed a long career in women's health. She's been a reader and writer since she was seven years old. Poetry and storytelling are a lifelong passion.

Transformations
We tell stories.
We tell stories to make sense of our lives.
We tell stories to communicate our experience of being alive.
We tell stories in our own distinct voice. Our own unique rhythm and tonality.

Transformations is a story-telling column. The stories are written by community members who are my students. Our stories are about family, love, loss and good times. We hope to make you laugh and cry. Maybe we will convince you to tell your stories.
— Kathrin Seitz, editor, and Cheryl Durbas, co-editor

"Everyone, when they get quiet, when they become desperately honest with themselves, is capable of uttering profound truths. We all derive from the same source. There is no mystery about the origin of things. We are all part of creation, all kings, all poets, all musicians; we have only to open up, only to discover what is already there." — Henry Miller

Kathrin Seitz teaches Method Writing in Rockport, New York City and Florida. She can be reached at kathrin@kathrinseitz.com. Cheryl Durbas is a freelance personal assistant in the Midcoast area. She can be reached at cheryldurbas@tidewater.net.