Willa

Today I taught extended metaphor poems in my Creative Writing class, and decided I'd better write one of my own.  I'm deeply involved in Barbara Kingsolver's new novel Unsheltered, so I wrote about one of the main characters.

WILLA

She’s a rock formation

In a foundation-less world.

Lost in the woods

When she least expects it.

Her field of frustrations--

Sinkholes in the earth--

Are an abandoned son,

A rebellious daughter,

And now a grandson,

This motherless child,

Who should be the sky

That graces Willa's landscape.

Hard to deal with when she

Has nowhere to plant her feet.

Yet, the meadow has flowers

And Willa wants to touch them.

Birds fly over the ocean

Following their own map.

Maybe someday she can find hers,

When anxiety gets controlled

And she takes the next step,

The one that will find her standing

In the clear light of day

On solid ground…

Unsheltered.