Poems by David H. Rommereim


“Sounds Underneath”
            By David H. Rommereim

Hawk circles the city with moonshine
Listening to a conversation bubbling between
Mitochondria and amphibia
Underneath a torpid pond

Like the FM radio
Their sound has long steady waves
Offering deep melodies in search of humus
Beyond the mirky zone
Where place meets purpose

Their music becomes cimarron
Weaving through the long sapien shadow
Where species are housed in museums
After bitter endings

She knew the mystery of underneath
Because each bubble joined a healing impulse
Lifting her gaze to the wild
Eavesdropping into the quiet power of bison
Staring into whirlwind
While Gaia instructs the human
To stand down

Her aggressive patience blew the still
Hovering atop the ponds
Reaching Hawk’s glide above underneath
Embracing the wind
Whirling through sweetgrass
Singing her fabric into earth


“Untitled”
         By David H. Rommereim

Your crystal color
Stokes
Life into each cell
With neighborly affection
You embrace the other
Startling the quiet
To partner
With beauty
That has no need
Of megaphone
Nor mirror
Your tactic for survival
Does no harm
To difference
Even weeds flower
Stems empower
A garden
That plays with the wind
Inhaling the mystery
In the time that remains
While exhaling
The misty rain
That tickles underneath
Through a rhythm
Of worms
Who teach each cell
How to be
Alone together

This poem is written through an experience with David Rothenberg (http://www.davidrothenberg.net) at Grinnell College, Grinnell Iowa. The event was sponsored by my brother John whose own music composition plays with the sounds from within the human body as one interacts with the mysterious surroundings and social underpinnings of one’s experience. David Rothenberg threw a hydrophone into a local pond. We listened to the sounds of life bubbling up. He then put together his clarinet and partnered with the sounds underneath making music together. The poem reminds me that humankind may survive if she returns her kindness to the earth, looks down, and remembers how to play with its holy mystery and partner with her sustaining gifts.


“Solastalgia”1
            By David H. Rommereim

The pulse saturates
With a frequency so high it enters the human
Only through bewilderment and uncertainty

My dog plays with It
Simultaneously wagging her tail and barking
While discerning friend or foe
Intrigued by an intruder

On the other hand
Or with another ear
Pulse is pitched
On the back of the breeze
Whose breath cocoons a life
Weaving no yesterday
Nor tomorrow
While her threads fold a rhythm
Engineering the language of belonging
Simply by touch

The primordial inquietude becomes inhuman
Leaning into the comfort pain needs without ether
While earth’s exhale yearns for a posture
To nurture the ones who have learned
To bark and wag
In moments without a timepiece

1. Solastalgia — A word developed by Philosopher Glenn Albrecht, South Wales Australia. Coined in 2005. It was formed by the combination of the Latin words sōlācium (comfort) and the Greek root - algia (pain). Differing from homesickness, solastalgia refers to the distress specifically caused by environmental change. It refers to the pain/sickness caused by the loss or lack of solace; existential distress caused by environmental change.

- David H. Rommereim writes from the mountains of Whitefish, Montana relocating after 3 ⅓ decades of serving as a Lutheran pastor and faith based community organizer in New York City. He is a biblical storyteller intrigued with the repair of the biosphere, religion, and politics through listening. He is deepened by the political spirituality engaged in our age of Eco-Apocalypse.

Copyright©2020 by David H. Rommereim. All Rights Reserved.