Brigitte Goetze

James, I Tried Your Arms, But…

… the only arms I allow myself to use—silence, exile, and cunning.
James Joyce: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

When each “What for?” limped my tongue with its frost,
just a few buds, hidden below hard leaves, could
bloom and, visited by a rare bee, ripen into seed.

It took time to see how
discipleship had shackled my soul.

But my mind, fertile, flexible, firmly rooted,
vast as a marsh of bulrushes
and my heart, that wild azalea, splayed open,
pulsing its spicy-tart scent into the breeze,

conversed, considered, resolved to turn
this self-made exile into an immigrant.

My choice: living arms
of bone and flesh. Akido-taught,
I aim to keep my three-point stance:

accepting challenges, I engage
to redirect what was received.

Brigitte Goetze lives in Western Oregon. A retired biologist and angora goat farmer, she now divides her time between writing and fiber work; in either case she spins her own yarns. Her work has been published in print and on the web. Links to recent publications can be found at: brigittegoetzewriter.com.