The Woman Who Moved Mountains

[jim turner]

She moved mountains,
more than one she moved,
more than one she raised,
not of earth or stone or snow.
Of soiled clothes on Mondays
she raised mountains, Tuesdays
built mesas of clean foldings.
Nights after mornings she emptied
landfilled kitchen sinks,
raised foothills of bread,
whipped up potato sierras,
adorned their meadows with gravy lakes.
She scrambled hills
of eggs, built them of their shells,
cookies, brown-bagged lunches.
She swept up little hills
of underbed dust, careless dirt
clinging to sneakers, shaken
from weeds among violets, saved
to soften those steep slopes
with color and fragrance.
She shoveled ridges of garden soil.
Rivers she made, meandering
valleys of tomatoes and squash.
Higher and higher, steeper and steeper
she built her peaks of love and climbed
until the day she fell.

Jim

And that mountain-moving-making was AFTER working 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. 7 days a week. No, we don’t ever want to go back there, although many are still there, but like the homeless, unseen. “Poem,” if that’s what it is, based on personal experience.

[judih]

This is brilliant.
phenomenal ode to earth building labour -
let it be read and heard

[mnaz]

jim, amazing. my mom raised mountains too, and i really hope i told her enough times through the years how much it means/meant to me. seems irreplaceable, i'm grateful for it.

[dadio]

Sounds like my mother, too. Good solid poem with fine hold on the words' worth.


Higher and higher, steeper and steeper
she built her peaks of love and climbed
until the day she fell.
(good conclusion)

[joel]

regarding my mom, it's an honor
regarding my wife, it's a sin

good call, Jim

[saw]

an ode to all that toil so we may benefit from the example that hard work won't kill you, ....that it will keep you fit, in body and mind.....nice work

[.Lucy.]

Yes, an ode to the unnamed individuals who give their all, without a commendation through the struggle.

[hester_prynne]

Invisible to visible, for a stunning, marvelous, brief moment.
Really dig this...
H

[Sue Littleton]

Love this lady. She has climbed mountains in every state in the Union, in every period of time, and she is always remembered in our hearts. Thank you, Jim! Sue♥