For The Sunday Whirl poetry prompt: Wordle 190
http://sundaywhirl.wordpress.com/
cave, haze, cape, traipse, chains, deranged,
filet, strain, sustain, feign, enflame, exchange
About Memory
Memories might feign a cape of innocence
as they traipse down a sunlit path,
while some seem to come from a dark inner place.
A deep dank cave where souls might be chained,
filleted like fish, with sharp cutting instruments
made from momentary mistakes in the past.
Can easily enflame a haze of deranged self-hatred
which strains to sustain some permanent mark
of punishment, or even worse: complete destruction.
Exchanging that darkness with the light
of forgiveness allows one to finally see
that no one among us is perfect.
Elizabeth Crawford 12/7/14
Soul's Music 
The cape of innocence just doesn’t fit me! However I do carry a very big bag of mistakes from the past. I am glad I’m in a large club of offenders. I loved the scary picture.
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This is very clever wordling, and a powerful poem.
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Do/did you find that the memory is lost and becomes almost subconscious/automatic..like you carry on what was written for you whether you really want to or not? Ah, but the last verse shows that you can re-write..re-programme and let in the light..write a way out of the darkness…a pleasure to read your wise words..as always
Jae, I believe all memory resides in the subconscious mind. The image is a digital painting I created several years ago and titled “The Dragon’s Lair“. As you may already know, I believe it is best to befriend whatever dragons may exist in that deep dank cave of remembering. They have so much to teach us, especially about forgiving ourselves and others. Research tells us that we must come in contact with things 300 times before they become a stable part of our understanding and knowing. We don’t learn it the first time around, most times learning to fear it instead. As a writing instructor, I taught a class called “Changing The End of The Story.” We worked through dreams, memories, and myth-making. It was quite popular. So my answer is an unequivocal YES to all your questions, lol. And thank you much for those questions. They have reopened a door on my own personal path and I am deeply grateful…
Elizabeth
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I love what you said about memory….and think you used the words well!
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Love how you used the words…and I relate to this as I have finally learned to forgive.
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I do think a person has to embrace the dark along with the light….and cannot despise ourselves for the darkness, but rather (as you say) turn it into light whenever possible!
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So much truth here. I like living in the light, but carry the dark along with me–
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I think if we go to those dark places you have brought a torch to find the way out again.
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This is such a profoundly moving write. I’ve been guilty, far too often, of filleting my own soul to shreds with sharp memories of mistakes from my past. Ugh. So this resonates. But, I like the hope and light at the end.
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What images! Filleted is not so bad for food as it is for bodies and/or souls hung in caves … gosh. And what is hung? The memories might do the cutting of the present self–theyare always so sharp, so ready to pounce. I like the idea of taking these memory tools and bits of self to a market where they can be exchanged for soft forgiveness or maybe a pet or a new story.
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Wisely beautiful and beautifully wise, as always, my friend,.
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Thank you too Elizabeth – 300 times – i have a lot of work to do…but i think my dragons will help..along with my friends xo
It does sound like a lot, but then we have our senses, our constantly operative minds, memories, dreams, images etc. All of those count as contact in one form or another. And we all have a lot of work to do…here’s to finding pleasure and peace in that doing.
Elizabeth
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Been there done that….
soulfully I stare at nothing
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