Stepping Stones

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Stepping Stones

Two years ago
today,
a lovely lady
read me
a death sentence:
my biopsy result.

She poured me
a poisoned chalice,
my personal
Gethsemane,
a cup from which
I had to drink.

I sat there in silence,
sipping it in.

Darkness wrapped
its shawl
around my shoulders.

‘Step by step,’ she said,
‘on stepping stones.’

I opened my eyes,
but
I could no longer see
the far side of the stream.

Comment:

I am searching for a title for the poetry book I wrote in 2015, while undergoing treatment for prostate cancer. My original idea for a title was Echoes of An Impromptu Metaphysics. I was reading the Spanish metaphysical poets during the treatment period and their voices resonated in my verse. The second attempt at a title shortened the original to Echoes. However, that didn’t really gel with what I was writing and what I was writing was not a metaphysical treatise: it was something simpler, and more personal.

We have all, as writers, gone into ourselves in that search for our own unique authenticity. My Echoes were authentic in the sense that they echoed other writers; but did they portray me and the search I was making? I wasn’t sure that they did.

I abandoned Echoes for a whole year (2016) and returned to it in January 2017. The space between writing and revision was most beneficial. I had begun blogging in April 2016, and the blogging experience had sharpened my vision. Reading other authors allowed me to see what I was doing that they weren’t. Preparing my own writing for perusal by a wider audience developed my critical skills. Is this really me? Is this how I want to portray my world?

I still don’t know. I am still looking for a title.

16 thoughts on “Stepping Stones”

  1. Meg's avatar

    I wonder if you have decided yet. The stream idea combined with the idea of an echo – what about something like Ripples on Still Water, Undulations in the Stream. Sorry so late to the post. Both Tanya’s and Cake’s ideas are great!

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Eugenia Dietrich's avatar

    Hi Roger, the poem is so true, I imagine; what I didn’t know was about your time writing/living the poem, anyway, we all have this shawl pending on us… I guess… “the far side of the stream” as title sounds like a nice title, I think

    Hugs 🙂 Eugenia

    Eugenia

    On Mon, Feb 6, 2017 at 11:28 AM, rogermoorepoetdotcom wrote:

    > rogermoorepoet posted: ” Stepping Stones Two years ago today, a lovely > lady read me a death sentence: my biopsy result. She poured me a poisoned > chalice, my personal Gethsemane, a cup from which I had to drink. I sat > there in silence, sipping it in. Darkness wrapped its shawl a” >

    Liked by 1 person

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