Tarot poems

I had no idea where to post this, so thought here would be the best bet.

I've not written poetry for AGES, and I'm afraid it shows, but I've come up with a task to write a poem for each of the major arcana, and possibly the minor ones too.

Here's the first one; The Fool.

A heart of gold he leads on,
Ever dancing, ever in song,
With flute in hand and dog at heel,
The song to play and hearts to heal.
Dancing on, oblivious to the shout
of watching children crying "look out!"
Before him lies a terrible cliff,
But he just smiles and cries "watch this!"
Jumping over the edge.

(Terrible poem, I know... I might write another one later)

Please feel free to share your own, or any you've found elsewhere (if not your own, if you can post the author's name too, that would be great - I love finding new poets to read)

I've been writing poems for some cards also, but I don't have them with me. I was sending them out with trade packages and stuff, as a nice surprise for people.

This sounds like an excellent project. I'd do it myself if I wasn't so darned busy with everything else. I'll be watching this thread to enjoy everyone else's work and maybe I'll find time to do one or two myself. I think it's a great way to learn the Majors or to deepen understanding of them.

I should get back to it. This is what I came up with earlier this year.


The Chariot

Written by Nisaba Merrieweather
Tuesday, 06 January 2009


THE CHARIOT
From the Granny Jones Australian Deck

Oh, Granny, rattling along, your three-wheeled bicycle
Once a sign and symbol of your eccentricity
Now has its clones amongst the Green-Conscious.

Oh, Granny, the road behind you rocky
And you without the popular electric engine.
Cats sleep in the bike basket as you ride.

Oh, Granny! The path ends
At the colourful gypsy caravan!
What will you do, where will you go then?

Are the hills with their copses of trees
As smooth as they seem? Are the Three Birds
against the sun showing you the easiest way?

Oh, Granny, the rocks are behind you;
But behind the deceptively smooth hills ahead
Are the sharp peaks of savage purple mountains …


WHEEL OF FORTUNE

(Granny Jones Australian Tarot)

by Nisaba Merrieweather

Red cog, yellow, green cogs, purple, blue cogs;
Cogs with square teeth and square indents locking;
Round cogs, square cogs oval cogs, black spanners
One huge triangle cog chained to the wheel
One small oval green cog flying freely
And the tools! The black spanners! They wind in
No mercy for the machine that can’t move,
Can’t grind but can’t stop, can’t draw to rest …

The impossible made nearly ruthless.
Something that can’t work, now can’t stop working.
No soothing image with faces or hands,
Angels or demons encouraging us.
No. The mechanics grind on, relentless,
The spanners in the works a part of it.



THE LOVERS
(Granny Jones Australian Tarot Deck)
By Nisaba Merrieweather

A swollen Full Moon resting on the earth
Three flying birds thus circumscribed, watching.
This is not night, not day, not in between.
This is the silence of a mythic landscape.
And watching it, Granny Jones, her husband
Two Siamese cats, two black Scottie dogs,
All of them their backs turned to the living.
Then, close, a ginger cat watching them all see.

Rarely does love last, and passion never.
The noise and sweat give way, silent awe
Becomes the best of us through the decades.

Do not ask for more; do not ask for love
To remain unchanged through the lens of time.
Precious moments gather, and pile, and sleep.



STRENGTH
Written by Nisaba Merrieweather
Wednesday, 26 November 2008
STRENGTH
(Granny Jones Australian Tarot Deck)
by Nisaba Merrieweather

Granny's corks fly from her black Quaker hat.
A hairbrush and mirror, the alarmed look
Of the Siamese Fool-Cat on her lap.
Tenderly she smiles her love at the cat,
Twinkles over her glasses at us.
Her mirror? Her mirror sees the watcher,
Knows the world outside the oval image.

"I have survived widowhood. I breathe.
I have survived children. I babysit.
I have survived wrinkles and greying hair.
I know the secrets that young people don't.
I have survived the turn of the decades.
I have known the crash of waves on my shores.
I know I will persist beyond all else."



THE STAR
Written by Nisaba Merrieweather
Wednesday, 26 November 2008
THE STAR
(sonnet, "The Star", Granny Jones Australian Tarot Deck)
by Nisaba Merrieweather

A quiet, Tasmanian night, this.
No van Gogh swirls or blazes of blue fire,
No Temperance feet, no pouring the jug -
The water is quiet, under the bridge.
Only a Tasmanian would know the church
Shorn of its cross, in the hills of Richmond.

Granny looks through a stone window in awe,
Her face round and soft under the Starlight,
The deep, indigo sky, her Quaker hat,
The Orange glow from a sleeping church
Reminds us that all nights are sacred,
And each has its Star, leading us to hope.

Star light, Star Bright, first Star I see tonight,
On this holy Tasmanian night.



the High Priestess (Tarot sonnet)
Written by Nisaba Merrieweather
Friday, 21 November 2008
THE HIGH PRIESTESS
(“The High Priestess” Tarot card, Granny Jones Australian Tarot Deck)
By Nisaba Merrieweather

The high Priestess stands twinkling in silence,
Two sleeping cats curled in a lemniscate
In an untroubled sky. Books of wisdom
Behind, a stove beside, cats all around.
Cards and crystal ball in hand, runes hanging
Her glasses low, her smile most tender.
Somewhere the Moon floats, somewhere three birds fly.

Is she not the Grandmother we all need?
Her tenderness is always infinite.
No slip of a girl can be High Priestess,
No girl unfelled by the passage of years.
There’s just something the decades do to you
As they stack up on your head, your back.
With age, wisdom. With age comes the secret knowledge.

WOW....awesome poems...and a great idea.....might have to give it a try.

at the moment I am in tearing hair out mode with tarot poetry.

As some of you know I am creating my own deck with another AT member (hope the holiday is going well Steve ), and have done a lot of writing for the book.

It seemed a good idea the other day to create a 4 line poem for each card. It has been harder doing that than it was creating the text for the deck and the book. Poetry has come fairly easy in the past, so was perhaps a little too cocky and complacent about the task. I now realise coming up with 78 x 4 lines of poetry is mmmuuuccchhh harder than writing a 14 line poem for a specific occasion. Getting the end word to rhyme in pairs is what is making it time consuming and challenging but very rewarding when I do spin on off out of the air so to speak

So far have all Majors with a 4 line poem and the Chalices.... 36 down 42 to go!!!! And it is not as easy as I thought it would be. Won't be giving up though

Davina