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dOVESONGS BY Barri Armitage

  • Home
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    • YOU SEND SONGS IN THE NIGHT - Album 18
    • LOOK AT GOD, NOT GOLIATH - Album 17
    • WHERE I KEEP MY TREASURE - ALBUM 16
    • A REASON FOR EVERY SEASON - ALBUM 15
    • PERFECTED BY YOUR LOVING HANDS - ALBUM 14
    • GOD, OUR DELIVERER - Album 13
    • YOUR WORD IS A LAMP - Album 12
    • AS THE WATERS COVER THE SEA - Album 11
    • PRAYERS LIKE SWEET INCENSE - Album 10
    • WHEN THESE THINGS BEGIN - Album 9
    • GOD'S MERCY ON THE MEEK - Album 8
    • BACK TO THE GARDEN - Album 7
    • THE JOY AHEAD - Album 6
    • THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH - Album 5
    • A SONG OF LOVES - Album 4
    • YIELD PEACEABLE FRUIT - Album 3
    • O LORD, MY LIGHT - Album 2
    • THINK ON THESE THINGS - Album 1
    • HE CARRIES US GENTLY 2ND EDITION
    • DaveSongs - Dovesongs sung by Dave Armitage
    • SONGS BY BARRI ARMITAGE - 2018 (SPECIAL RELEASE)
    • Christian Country Music Special Release
    • SINGING SCRIPTURES VOL 1
    • SINGING SCRIPTURES VOL 2
    • SINGING SCRIPTURES VOL 3
    • SINGING SCRIPTURES Vol. 4
  • Spoken Songs
    • Spoken Songs - A Reason for Every Season
    • Spoken Songs - Perfected By Your Loving Hands
    • Spoken Songs - Yield Peaceable Fruit
    • SPOKEN DOVESONGS, VOL. 1 - SCRIPTURE POEMS OF FAITH SET TO MUSIC
    • SPOKEN DOVESONGS, VOL. 2 - SCRIPTURE POEMS OF THE HEART SET TO MUSIC
    • SPOKEN DOVESONGS, VOL. 3 - SCRIPTURE POEMS OF OUR BELOVED SET TO MUSIC
  • Poetry
    • GOD’S CARE ON MY PATH - FROM POETRY TO SONGS
  • Lyrics
  • Scripture Index
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Double Helix by Barri Armitage

DOUBLE HELIX
  • DOUBLE HELIX

DOUBLE HELIX

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“These are poems of survival, even of celebration, in the face of irredeemable loss.”

— Susan Ludvigson, Poet and professor

“I love the courage of these poems, the surprising risks, the energy and skills of a poet who makes a stranger feel that the lovely, painful world of these poems is home. Spun from unbearable loss, the book weaves a story of human abundance--a family blessed with so much, deeply in love, with so much to lose...These poems give me more than I expect from any book.”

— Walter McDonald, Poet and professor

Poetry Excerpts from Double Helix

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  1. 1
    Poetry Reading - The Gardner 1:13
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THE GARDENER 

knows his trade, knows how to choose 
the thickest stems from stringers, knows 
the right reasons for pruning down to ugly stubs 
poking up six inches from the ground.  He knows 
the stalks will stand all night as if remembering 
over and over the feel of the saw 
as each cut brought sap to the surface, 
will stand in the cold night not cold enough 
for frost, as if trying to remember 
the new bloom, shape that will soften, 
juice that will thicken--the good enough 
reasons for the mass of dead brush whirling 
and writhing at the edge of the dream. 
He knows roots will reach into well-worked soil 
and returns before dawn to smooth again 
the sealer, clear and sticky, on the wounds. 

- Barri Armitage 

  

DOUBLE HELIX, © 1993, Washington Writers' Publishing House

FALL RITUAL 
Even the marigolds on my window sill 
speed on to seed, showing it's time 
to shorten the path to earth. 
You always stay at twenty-two, 
you, the expert at shortcuts: 
three cakes in one bowl, 
four quilt squares, or eight, at a time. 
Your bike, faster than cars at rush hour, 
seemed almost welded to you, 
sped you along the night's straight edge, 
armlight blinking gold, 
until a Chevy cut you short. 
  
Outside, I soften a groove in the clay. 
Maroon and gold petals, dry as confetti, 
slip away at the slightest touch. 
I wriggle the seeds apart and 
push them into a common bed. 
Reluctant to cover up, 
  
I savor the feel of earth, 
then sprinkle it, pack it like snow. 
Bone of my bone, you were packed in me, 
grew from meat I chewed, from milk I drank-- 
seed buried in seed 
you carried to the ground. 
When snow's patches have melted 
and the flurry of birds returns 
like the rush of rain, 
I will kneel at this earth's pocket 
as flesh of the springtime's flesh 
begins to crown. 

     - Barri Armitage 

  

DOUBLE HELIX, © 1993, Washington Writers' Publishing House 
First published: POETRY, Sept. 1986 
Reprinted in OUT OF SEASON, 1993, The Amagansett Press 
Reprinted in CABIN FEVER, 2003, The Words Works

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