A Duel Poem
by
River Urke & Charles Martin
the call of a lone wolf
echoes
through the deepest corners 
of the northern forest
a sound so primeval
from a forgotten soul
a wanderer of time
a time before men
walked the mossy path
alone, separated
and divided from all
now their relative calls
out their names
pleading for them
to return to the old ways
when men knew their brothers
and walked with their sisters
a time they lived side by side
no blades between or
tar soaked earth
only the warmth of love
for one another
a deep respect
for all who shared this place
and walked upon this path
a thousand miles far
the call of a lone wolf
resonates, passing through
earth, water, fire, and air
a girl lifts her ears
and speaks to the wind
brother I hear you
your voice is my voice
your sadness is mine
the lone wolf replies
young one, I carry
too heavy a burden
for your soft back
the girl smiles
and says to the old one
then let us do as before
and share the burden’s
of this world
Once again River Urke and I have entered into a duel poetry challenge and this is the resulting poem. Duel Poetry: a prearranged poetry writing challenge between two people to evolve a new poem where each writer must respond to the other writer’s lines (4 -5 ) until both parties agree that the poem is complete.
Read Between the Minds 
I couldn’t resist coming here for my morning fix. My project is very taxing, and being here did help lift my burden for a brief respite. Thank you, River and Charles.
Kudos to you and River Urke on this poem. A very enjoyable piece to read.
Once again, I REALLY like this shared author thing. Really cool poem created here. Good flow and interesting subject matter.
This is such a pure idea,
one that brings the reader
to the beginning of creation and how earth’s creatures dealt with adversities… strange brood we are, people. We’re still trying to learn!
I love creating poems this way, Charles… it is truly an amazing feat to mould one thought from many minds! Clap, clap, clap! ~Denise
Good job, River and Charles!
Oh this is beautiful, evocative, like the image! I hear the call and long for a return to that age-old time wolf speaks of, of men living in peace, no blades between.
Quite amazing how you two meld individual inputs into one, wolf would be proud…
Perfect illustration. Evocative poem. Fine transitions … hautingly beautiful. One to read over and over. A gift. Thanks!
I love this- beautiful poetry River and Charles
I love this concept of the duel poem. If all the results turn out like this–it’s clearly a splendid practice. Shared writing…it either turns out incredibly, or miserably. Glad to see you’ve have the former experience.
Potent imagery, beautifully crafted words–such a cry, such a call! Great flow, great writing all around.
It was a pleasure writing with you again. 🙂
Thank You, Charles!
Record time, too!
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Writing in the wolf’s voice, that’s how it sounds to me. Beautiful.
Nice work–like the joining of the young and old–the lone no longer being ‘alone’ because of the child.
Not easy to collaborate like this, slpmartin, but you two make all the word craft work beautifully. MMM.
Like some of the words in this mastery of phrases, I truly respect both of you so very much!! Thanks River and Charles, for writing this superb poem…Your most ardent admirer oxoxox
Charles, this poem is simply exquisite. It captures the call of the First Nations to one another and couples it with the need that exists in the world today. Many, many thanks. (as an aside, how do you do ‘duel’?)
We duel via email back-and-forth…one poet starts the challenge and the other responds by adding lines to the poem…the process is continues until both poets agree the poem is complete….we then collaborate on the image for the poem…River is a bit picker than I am when it comes to the image…she usually has me edit it a couple of times for things I just didn’t see…she is joy to work with….thanks for you comments.
So that’s how you do it. Obviously you two are in tune when you can produce a piece of such beauty.
beautiful… “speaking to the wind” brings to mind the loneliness in the great outdoors that isn’t actual loneliness at all … but being with oneself and whatever else we are prepared to hear and see…
This is just beautiful… love the collaboration and the thoughts expressed in this one…. thank you for sharing. heartspell
Absolutely amazing! Charles and River, I so feel so much in this writing…really left me in awe of thought upon my own spirit, as I question sometimes where some emotions come from, perhaps ancestors, perhaps something that whispers along in the wind, as in alone times it seems as if “something speaks to me” and oftentimes I’ve tried to disregard as “couldn’t be” and felt…a bit odd. Yet at the same moment I feel so very very connected to….Thank you for this writing, really really made my night to read this. (and maybe I should not feel so odd….)
Duel poetry is fun indeed! Had done that with a friend a couple of years!
You and River have done a marvelous job here!
And the subject you chose is so mystical and abstract (well, sorta.. considering the fact that 2 persons are going to be putting their ideas into it!).. and yet, the result is so beautiful and seamless!
Bravo!
fabulous michael, just fabulous. we are becoming so complex with passing time ….
A beautiful result of duel poetry. Out of interest, do either of you ever edit the other person’s lines? Is that in the ‘rules’?? Sounds like a REALLY fun challenge. Chloe xx
We do not edit each others lines…of course we hope we catch our own spelling errors before we sent it off during the duel. 😉
nice work 🙂
Love all your stuff, but this is great 🙂
Beautiful, we need to share the burdens of the world, makes me think of Syria now. When will love and peace reign through out this world, it must begin within each of us.