Presenting the poetry, books, and photographs of Nancy Wood, 1936-2013
From Dancing Moons, 1995, by Nancy Wood
Things that remember themselves
are not forgotten, but rise on wings
of experience and paint our minds
with the visions of our ancestors.
Things that remember themselves are pictures
without form and words without a tongue.
They give meaning to what we thought
we had forgotten in our youth.
Things that remember themselves give light
to the uncertain paths we used to take,
bringing beauty to the house
of our ripening old age.
From Dancing Moons, 1995, by Nancy Wood
Spirit Brothers
We are all one.
The human and the hummingbird
The wild horse and the weasel
The house cat and the red-tailed hawk
The buffalo and the dog
The coyote and the cottontail.
The human spirit and the animal spirit
Grow from a common root
of understanding.
Human dreams and animal dreams
Share the limitless horizon
of our precious mother earth.
The human spirit and the animal spirit
Join where the circle of the sky
meets the circle of the earth.
In this sacred space lies the meaning of the universe.
The meaning of the universe is nothing more
than the appearance of dew on a leaf or
the dance of light on water, even
the conversation between two dogs or
the way a hummingbird flies.
From Dancing Moons, 1995, by Nancy Wood
The woman-heart spirit was released by the Creator
a long time ago in order to nurture children,
animals and plants, trees and rocks, and also
men, who resisted the softening of their wild nature.
The woman-heart spirit roamed the deserts and the mountains
looking for ways to create awareness,
the food the earth needed for survival,
and the recognition of beauty in the land.
The woman-heart spirit was wild, untamed
like the river and the wind
who taught her knowledge of a certain kind,
different from the knowledge of men or children.
The woman-heart spirit became the guardian
of language and music and the stories
needed by birds and animals and people, as
the world changed and imagination dried up.
The woman-heart spirit became the keeper of compassion,
strong yet invisible, the connection between
all living things. The woman-heart spirit
is nothing more than love, overlooked when the world began.
From Dancing Moons, 1995, by Nancy Wood
Mountains that are looked at have a particular grace,
some are rounded and gentle, others have a wildness
of spirit, the sharp rock face of invincibility.
Still others beckon with deceptive calm, luring the unwary
with their raw beauty, heads buried in clouds, sunlight
dancing on meadows like sky fingers. The great rock god
Of the mountains sleeps with one eye open to catch eagles
and elk, wind and rainbows, the strong of limb who climb
those peaks because a mountain lives inside them.
Mountains that are looked at look back with the pleasure
of old women locked in the gaze of new admirers,
so glad for attention, so wary of strangers. Mountains
That are looked at increase in beauty from so much looking
and live on in memory long after we are gone from them,
remembering the hint of immortality there and the way
We were possessed by rock. Mountains that are looked at
look back with authority and the promise of tomorrow,
which is why some people die for them.
Deep in the sanctuary of my loneliness,
I looked at the nighttime sky where
The full moon in its own deep solitude
Suddenly began to dance across the stars.
From dark horizon to dark horizon it went,
Giving light to my silent, shuttered heart,
And to itself the promise of desire.
As I watched, the full moon danced the night away,
Bathed in earth’s reflected harmony. Then
The moon became two moons, multiplying on and on
Until the sky was filled with dancing moons.
Those distant orbs of spirited light vanished the moment
The sun came up, yet shadows of their beauty remained,
Reminding me of the blessings of my life.