I Wish I'd Written This

Love Totem
By Amy Cunningham

Dream—

I will meet you at Talking Log

when Daffodil rises

and Mud sticks to boots.

Sun—

I will meet you at Talking Log

when Stream has Moon

and Dog perches on Flat Rock to drink.

Music—

I will meet you at Talking Log

when Leaf becomes Sea

and Sound brushes jingle dress.

Fire—

I will meet you at Talking Log

when Snow freezes Time

and Shadow whishes as we walk.

Peace—

I will meet you at Talking Log

when West Wind rages

and Deer hides behind Tree.

Death—

I will meet you at Talking Log

and Thunderbird will be our guide

and Great Spirit will carry us.

Amy Cunningham was one of the wonderful poets I encountered on MySpace. She wrote this beautiful poem when she was 10! (Which was in 1977.) She was a lot older than that when we connected, and I don't remember why she chose to share it on MySpace, but I thought it an astounding piece of work from a child that age. (I wrote poems as a child too, but not of that calibre!) I think it extraordinarily accomplished, and I loved it better than the poems she was writing as an adult, which were in a more experimental style.

Unfortunately she was one I lost touch with after MySpace, and when I tried Googling her for this post I couldn't find her. There are lots of Amy Cunninghams, but not one listed as a poet, and no sign of her poetry anywhere online.  I looked very carefully, and none of them has her face either, so it's not as if she is present in some other capacity.

If anyone knows of her, please let me know too. (As you may guess from the poem, she was American.) Meanwhile, when we were in contact she gave permission for me to share this poem with the people in my writers' group, so I trust she would not object to my sharing it with this rather larger writers' group too. 

And I still think, if I can give you only one poem from this poet, this one is THE one.

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