"Namaste: An Experiment of Poetic Yoga" by Terri Lynn Cummings, Frequent Contributor

Namaste:  An Experiment of Poetic Yoga

Terri Lynn Cummings

Existence drifts on a miles-long stream

Flowers lift their faces

while the past sweeps past in currents

Each bloom, the face of an ancestor

fades in and seeds our voices

As rain finishes with us

air sharpens, life deepens

all futures speak in unison

We blow through the straw

of childhood, gasp

at clouds of raspberry

orange, and lemon

Sunrise sings for the universe

in which we grow

No place to sit on fluid time

since Moon circles

full bellied, feet aching

waits for music to stop

Life moves to hold still

Fingers and palms press together

in greeting. Opposing sides harmonize

Poet’s Notes:  Ideas for this poem were born from a collection of paintings. Local visual artist Beth Pemberton had asked me to write brief poems for an upcoming exhibition of her work. Her paintings included serene landscapes and contemporary drawings. One painting named “Namaste” inspired this longer poem for Songs of Eretz Poetry Review.