Misty by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Misty
Rosemerry Wahtola TrommerAnd sometimes when I move
at the edge of a greatness—
a lake or a sea or a mountainside—my insignificance thrills me
and the largest of my sadnesses
dwindles smaller than the spacebetween grains of sand
and in that moment,
knowing my place,comes a love so enormous
I can love anyone, anyone,
even myself.
MARGINALIA
1.
It is a hard task to love myself. That much I know. Every day is a struggle to want to be alive. I often tell my friends who lament at the challenges of being an adult, that upon waking up in the morning, I have to come to terms with being human first, of being here, before I can even contemplate about being an adult.
2.
The task of getting out of bed, of choosing not to die today—I suppose that requires love. An enormous love. Of life? Of the world? Of my tattered self? I don’t have the answers.
3.
Sometimes when I glance outside the window and see the sun like a giant yolk sitting atop the clouds I can almost understand why it is worth it. When I think of something funny and I start laughing until I’m crying, when I’ve eaten a good bowl of soup and I feel the warmth inside my body, when the rain falls gently and the fog moves in and the thunder feels more a murmur than a rumble—I think, yes, this will do. And when you call me beautiful and it gives me the sweetest ache, I remember that I do, you know. Love myself, I mean. Because I want to be here. Because I want all this, still.
KEEP READING
SHARED WITH GRATITUDE
This poem appeared in hush by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, published by Middle Creek Publishing & Audio, 2020. (Available on: Amazon • Bookshop)
DESCRIPTION
“Rosemerry’s poetry speaks to our hearts, to our deepest knowing, to being here in each moment. She wakes us up again and again and reminds us that the sacred is right in front of us—in the night sky, in the moist earth, in the leaf at our feet. To be awake in this moment is our deepest potential; these poems bring us here with reverence and joy. Like all great teachers, Rosemerry points the way so clearly that we arrive, having forgotten the finger, and seeing only the moon.
—Susie Harrington, meditation teacher, Desert Dharma
With Hush, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer once again turns her attention toward insights gleaned from daily life, trusting that everything we encounter, from evergreens and bluebonnets to snapdragons and an achy back after shoveling snow, has something to teach us about being human. Throughout each of these exquisite, open-hearted, often sensual poems, she brings us along as she finds a kind of “renegade beauty” wherever she looks. “Let’s go outside,” she writes, “and praise/the light till the light is gone, and then praise the dark,” modeling for us just the kind of radical gratitude we need in our literature, and in our lives right now.
–James Crews, editor of Healing the Divide: Poems of Kindness and Connection
These are not quiet poems—they are forthright meditations on truth and courage, love and loss. They are life itself, revealed with compassion and grace. The poems in Hush speak like a healing meditation, a reminder of the beauty and sustenance in living with hearts and minds open.
—Susan J. Tweit, plant biologist and author of Walking Nature Home
In theseshich is mud smudged and lumpy, for the sincerity of wild strawberries, and for the onslaught, which every gardener knows. Here Rosemerry shows us how one might endeavor to be the peace we want in the world. One comes away remembering that tending is at the heart of all healing. Because thorn bush. Because great blue heron. Because puddles.
—Wendy Videlock, author of Nevertheles” (Source)
ABOUT ROSEMERRY WAHTOLA TROMMER
Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer is a poet, teacher, speaker and writing facilitator who co-hosts Emerging Form, a podcast on creative process. Her daily audio series, The Poetic Path, is on the Ritual app. Her poems have appeared on A Prairie Home Companion, PBS News Hour, O Magazine, American Life in Poetry, and Carnegie Hall stage. Her recent collections are All the Honey and The Unfolding. In 2024, she became poet laureate for Evermore, helping others explore grief and love through poetry.… (more)
Read more poems by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer • Find books by this poet on Amazon • Bookshop • Follow on Instagram • Facebook • Website • Or view my library
ENDNOTES
- Explore other works in pursuit of: awe • the holy • healing • Or browse the index
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Karen Seashore
It is always hard for me to decide what I love most — the new poem, or your observations about how it fits into your life.
T.
I’m touched to hear that you enjoy both the poem and my personal reflections. It’s a testament to the connective power of poetry, how it can speak to us in so many ways and fit into the puzzle of our lives. I’m grateful for your engagement and your thoughtful comment. Here’s to many more shared experiences through the world of poetry.
T.