hennenburg.com
Menu
  • About H. Hennenburg
  • Contact H.
  • Newsletter
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions & Disclaimer
Menu

The Shape of Water

Posted on 14 May 202017 May 2020 by H. Hennenburg
Image by Christina Winter illustrating poem titled The Shape of Water by H. Hennenburg
Image by Christina Winter

Life brings challenges beyond our control, and these challenges can sometimes be great burdens. But when we use our voices and express our truth, we can turn those burdens into new light and fresh growth for ourselves and for the world. I wrote this poem for a friend 22 years ago. I thought I would give it some new light today.

The Shape of Water

All this weather
In a woman’s voice, it is matter of fact
Prophetic and profound
Because it is commonplace
That itchy little annoyance that turns up the dis-ease
That makes you or breaks you

All this weather
That never quite settles a person in one place or another
Just continual change
Until there is no particular sensation drawing the mark
Between rain and shine
No particular sensation
Bleeding into the flood waters – the runoff from the world
And blending so that one can no longer claim: “those tears are mine!”
…Even if one wants to

Defiance…submission…victory…weather
Do you know that the shape of water is round?
Like earth, like sun, like moon
Like life and death
Like submission and victory
There is no beginning or end – only weather

But do you know
That a woman’s voice will change the world slowly?
Light will creep in where she unburdens her heart
And leave the yellow-pink glow of sunset
Looming over the yield of years and years of weather:
Little green sensations.

© H. Hennenburg, 1 February 1998

Joyfully linking with Poets & Storytellers United.

Digiprove sealCopyright protected by Digiprove © 2020 H. Hennenburg
Spread the wonder!

Related Posts:

  • Thank You by H. Hennenburg 27 May 2019 Thank you for the journeys that never end and for hopeless dreams that beg us…
  • Ovation by H. Hennenburg 14 September 2019 Will you dance the transcendent carnality into harmonious crescendo and raise the light into ovation?

Powered by Contextual Related Posts

20 thoughts on “The Shape of Water”

  1. Sherry Blue sky says:
    14 May 2020 at 6:13 PM

    My dearest hope is that women’s voices will change the world. Some already are – Alexandria Cortez, and the New Zealand prime minister.

  2. Khaya Ronkainen says:
    17 May 2020 at 3:36 AM

    Wow, H! You were born to write. This poem is just one of your best. One day, hopefully soon I’ll come back to it. So much to take away.

    But on the splendid news, I heard today…
    Congratulations on your recent publication. Yours is a long-awaited book, I’ve downloaded my copy (thanks for the free download) and I’ll be reading you soon. Be well!

  3. Magical Mystical Teacher says:
    17 May 2020 at 9:13 AM

    Change often comes slowly, but it will come. May we all hear, and welcome, the voice that longs to change us from darkness into light.

  4. Colleen LOOSELEAFNOTES says:
    17 May 2020 at 9:26 AM

    It fits for these times. I love the part about bleeding into floodwaters the runoff of the world.

  5. Jim says:
    17 May 2020 at 10:56 AM

    Women do change the world, either directly or indirectly through the men in their lives. Direct means has made much progress since ’98. The concept of tear distribution hadn’t concerned me much until now. Sort of like where does your spit go and what adventures await it once it has gone spitooey. Or the baby bird after leaving the nest.
    Congratulations on your book. I will look it up. And thank you for peeking in on my write.
    ..

  6. Magaly Guerrero says:
    17 May 2020 at 11:00 AM

    Perfect for right now, not just the reminder that our voices can shape anything and everything, but also the fact that even disaster–or, perhaps, especially disaster–is part of the circle of life… and eventually, better days will grow out of all this bad. “The shape of water is round”, balanced, and promising.

  7. Helen says:
    17 May 2020 at 11:50 AM

    How lucky for me I clicked on this post … I would have missed the pleasure of reading your poem. Which is awesome. Thank you.

  8. Bev Crawford says:
    17 May 2020 at 12:51 PM

    As timely today as it was 22 years ago, perhaps even moreso. Beautiful write.

  9. Vivian Zems says:
    17 May 2020 at 12:55 PM

    I love how you wove this so beautifully. A woman’s voice can indeed, change the world. So many women to count…. thnk of Greta , Mother Teresa……

  10. Sanaa Rizvi says:
    17 May 2020 at 3:52 PM

    Yes, I do believe a woman’s voice will change the world slowly 🙂 this is such a stunning write. Congratulations on your book! I am so happy for you!!

  11. Old Egg says:
    17 May 2020 at 6:44 PM

    Well women cannot do any worse than men who feel that someone has to lose rather than try to make everyone profit.

  12. Kim M. Russell says:
    18 May 2020 at 12:33 AM

    I love that the weather is in a woman’s voice, Heather, and that the shape of water is round (like a woman’s) and the final stanza is so true!

  13. dsnake1 says:
    18 May 2020 at 1:20 AM

    the poem is as relevant today as it was over twenty years ago when it was written.
    i really like the last stanza. perhaps that will really be true. because there is more patience and compassion in a woman, and that is what the world needs now. See how the female leaders of New Zealand, Taiwan and Germany are reacting so successfully to the coronavirus crisis.

  14. Thotpurge says:
    18 May 2020 at 2:29 AM

    Oh I love the shape of water being round … beautifully written.

  15. Rosemary Nissen-Wade says:
    18 May 2020 at 4:11 AM

    Beautifully written, and that final line is just perfect in every way.

  16. Audrey M Howitt says:
    18 May 2020 at 8:39 AM

    As relevant now as it was 22 years ago–this is such a beautiful write! I hope that women’s voices will continue to create weather

  17. gillena says:
    18 May 2020 at 12:56 PM

    Ah yes the circle of water the shape of life.
    Clever images in your poem
    Have a good week

    Muchlove

  18. Cie from Poetry of the Netherworld says:
    18 May 2020 at 2:38 PM

    A timeless poem. It inspired a train of thought for me.
    It makes me think of a line from the song by Ten Years After.
    “I’d love to change the world but I don’t know what to do. So I leave it up to you.”
    Then there’s another song that comes to mind.
    “I am not a pretty girl, it isn’t what I do.”
    Here I am, a woman who sees the ways we could be kinder to one another. But since I am a strange old bird and not pretty at all, I have a hard time making myself heard. The world doesn’t tend to listen to women who look like me.
    Then again, they don’t tend to listen to the women that men fall all over themselves to get near either.

  19. Susie Clevenger says:
    19 May 2020 at 8:28 AM

    We need women’s voices. Testosterone storms our ears and I for one am weary of it. Congratulations on your book!!

  20. Humblekind Poet says:
    20 May 2020 at 5:58 AM

    i like this prophetic, eloquent poem. great work!

Comments are closed.

Follow the trail of wonder:

Riders of the Tempest: The Story of WE

Riders of the Storm by H. Hennenburg ebook cover art

Internationally available at
Amazon
iBooks &
Kobo
Get your copy!
If you don’t use a tablet or e-reader, contact me to request a PDF copy.
Riders of the Tempest: The Story of WE

*Cover painting by Autumn Chiu @ArtChiu

Riders of the Tempest Amazon review 1
Riders of the Tempest book review from Instagram
Riders of the Tempest book review Amazon Canada

About H. Hennenburg

H. Hennenburg

Hi, I’m H. Thanks for stopping by my site. I created Hennenburg.com to be a home for truth, joy & wonder as I experience and explore them in my writing. I have a sense of these three phenomena as both producing and encapsulating many themes that have recurred in my writing for as long as I can remember. Themes such as: [read more]

My Interview At Poets United

Read more about me plus my thoughts on truth, joy, wonder and the importance of hope during trying times.

Recent Posts

  • Revocation
  • A Conversation With Khaya Ronkainen
  • Miracles
  • Last One Standing
  • Only One Is True

Tags

ChoiceClarityCommitmentCourageFreedomGratitudeHopeLifeLoveNatureOnenessPossibilityPresenceResponsibilitySourceTransformationTransforming painTruthVisionVulnerability

Categories

  • Musings
  • Poetry
  • Spoken Word

Menu

  • Contact H.
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions & Disclaimer

Archives

  • February 2021
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019

Search

©2021 hennenburg.com | Theme by SuperbThemes
Available Now!

Riders of the Tempest: The Story of WE
by H. Hennenburg

Riders of the Storm by H. Hennenburg ebook cover art
Cover painting by Autumn Chiu @ArtChiu

There is no “I”. There is no “you.” There is only WE. “Reality is in the possibilities,” and Riders of the Tempest is a quest for the heart of what can be.

This collection of poems by H. Hennenburg tells the story of WE. Born from Supernova, we bear the imprint of the universe: the mandate to expand. Gripped by a deep yearning, we march into a tempest…a great storm…a war between our desire to expand as individuals and our desire to expand into the truth of our oneness. We believe we are mere “echoes to the sea and gathering storm,” but there is more to the universe than what we see. We are “more than the caged experience of sight.” Endowed with an infinite stream of choices, what happens in our story if we reach for more?

Download for free at: iBooks, Kobo & most Amazon stores

If you don’t use a tablet or e-reader and would like a copy, please contact me for the PDF version.