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Wednesday, February 1, 2012

After the Sheep

Sending you to another interview today, this one full of the magic and wisdom of Sherry O'Keefe, poet, editor, viola player, and sometime sheep shearer.

I was struck by this:

After the sheep are sheared, they run about the barnyard a little bit shocked and startled. Not so much because of what happened to them, but because of what happened to the others! Until they run around and smell each other, they no longer recognize any other sheep. 

I can't help but make a human connection, of a spiritual or emotional or psychological sort. When we are naked and vulnerable together, shorn of our protective covering, yes, we don't know who we are! But this is us! The real us, the old us, and the new us. And we are finally focused on each other! By necessity! To know who we are collectively, to figure ourselves out individually.

And running around smelling each other somehow seems perfect for the Hump of the Week in the blog.

You can read some of Sherry O'Keefe's poems here, and her blog, here. I think her Making Good Use of August chapbook must be sold out at Finishing Line Press, as the link doesn't work, so contact her through her blog, if you want to get hold of that.

The fabulous art here, at the interview, and in Sherry O'Keefe's solo poetry feature is by Escape Into Life artist Michal Geidrojc.

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10 comments:

  1. MaureenFebruary 1, 2012 at 11:35 AM

    Thank you for the introduction to O'Keefe whose work I did not know. She's a wonderful poet.

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  2. MollyFebruary 1, 2012 at 11:37 AM

    Oh, I love this idea -- shorn of our protective covering, focused on one another by necessity. Thanks for sharing and for the links!

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  3. KathleenFebruary 1, 2012 at 11:41 AM

    Thanks, Maureen and Molly. I am glad to "herd" you on over to Sherry O'Keefe.

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  4. Sherry O'KeefeFebruary 1, 2012 at 1:18 PM

    thank you, kathleen, for your generous ways!

    your post about recognizing one another and our own selves is wonderful. what would it feel like to not be recognized? and if someone is to recognize us without the usual visual clues- what is it about ourselves they recognize?

    thank you, maureen, for your kind words. and molly, thank you for following the links.

    sherry

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  5. KathleenFebruary 1, 2012 at 1:23 PM

    You are a wise and wonderful woman, Sherry. I am glad to have virtually met you.

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  6. Marcoantonio Arellano (Nene)February 1, 2012 at 1:39 PM

    Thank you Kathleen for a wonderfully astute interview and for the intro, once again, to quite an intuitive writer, Sherry O'keefe.

    Having you and Sherry O'keefe in the same room, WOW!

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  7. JayneFebruary 1, 2012 at 8:35 PM

    Wonderful interview, Kathleen. I've read many of Sherry's poems. They tug at my heart. In a good way. :)

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  8. KathleenFebruary 1, 2012 at 11:24 PM

    Thanks, Jayne!

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  9. RuthFebruary 2, 2012 at 4:22 AM

    This is an evocative thought, picturing our naked souls sniffing each other for recognition. It helps me to realize that our ego selves are really essential too, even though it is easy to discount them. They are guides to our souls, just as our souls are guides to what is deeper within. Wonderful.

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  10. KathleenFebruary 2, 2012 at 6:36 AM

    Thanks, Ruth. It's an honor and a delight to read everyone's interpretation of the naked, shorn sheep. I'm glad Sherry brought them our way by sharing her observation of the shearing.

    I was and still am stuck by the possibility of us not even knowing each other or ourselves when we finally bare our souls, so to speak, because we so rarely do that, in a real way. So often we are hiding, or only showing what the world "wants" to see--the conventional, etc. I'm glad we are all pondering this, naked together!

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Go ahead and comment, and I will publish it after I get an email notification! Thanks!