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“Death Rattle” by Donna Bowling “God told the serpeant … ‘I’m declaring war between you and the Woman, between your offspring and hers. He’ll wound your hand, you’ll wound his head.’” Genesis 3:15, Eugene Peterson, “The Message” In the shimmer of summer’s radiance, Life is as heavy with promise as the succulent tomatoes, Vine curved towards fertile loam. Crimson cardinals swoop Against lush greenery and cobalt sky, A shifting kaleidoscope. A gardener tills the earth, Laboring unaware as death slithers near. Silky whisper in the grass, swish of dead leaves. Dust-eater, man-killer, dream-haunter. The cursed symbol of our imperfection Shakes a warning. The gardener’s hoe dispatches his enemy. If only death were so easily banished. Memories of an earlier encounter With mortality intrude. Remembering again to savor each breath, He offers up a prayer of thanks and returns to his task.

Donna Bowling has only been writing poetry for about five years.

So she was a little surprised when she was named poet laureate for the 2008 Barclay Literature Competition.

“It was really exciting. It’s an affirmation that the time I’ve put in has been worth it,” said Mrs. Bowling. She also won first place for “Death Rattle” in the Cynthia Linzy Poetry Award category.

Mrs. Bowling first ventured into poetry after going on sabbatical from her 30-year law career to pursue a degree in ethics at the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 2002.

“Shortly after I graduated I went to a seminar by Ann Weims, who is a wonderful Presbyterian poet,” Mrs. Bowling said. “I went because the title was ‘Faith in Writing’ and I thought that was interesting.”

At the seminar Mrs. Bowling wrote her first poem since “high school” she said.

“I joke that Ann infected me with the poetry virus because I’ve been writing them ever since,” Mrs. Bowling said. “It’s been a good way to express strong emotions and memorialize things.”

The poem “Death Rattle” was developed from her husband John Bowling’s brush with a rattlesnake in the backyard.

“My husband was out filling the bird feeder and fortunately he had his boots on,” Mrs. Bowling said. “He was stomping back and forth and heard a noise behind him. It was a five-foot rattlesnake just inches away from him.”

Reacting quickly, Bowling found a garden hoe and killed the snake. After the experience, Mrs. Bowling was able to find a deeper meaning to the poem.

“My husband is a cancer survivor,” Mrs. Bowling said. “Also, given my seminary background, I started thinking about the snake in the Garden of Eden and that’s why I started the poem with the quote from Genesis.”

However, the poem took a little work before it was finished.

“Initially, I sat down and scribbled it out in about 30 minutes,” Mrs. Bowling said. “I took it to a poetry workshop at UMHB and they absolutely shredded it. So I sat down and rewrote it, especially the bottom half.”

The extra work paid off and other poets are starting to take notice.

“The poets that I’ve gotten to know are just amazed,” Mrs. Bowling said. “Because they’ve written poems since they were little kids and I haven’t done that.”

Now that she is the official poet laureate, Mrs. Bowling wants to use her position to expose poetry to a wider audience.

“I want to find out more why they created this position in the first place,” Mrs. Bowling said. “I’d like to promote poetry and work with the library to have a monthly reading with local poets.”

The position of poet laureate might be new to Mrs. Bowling, but her work with poetry will continue to be an outlet for her to learn more about her life and how to share that life with others.

“I’ve written about good times and sad times,” Mrs. Bowling said. “Sometimes I learn things that I didn’t know about myself and I’m surprised by what comes out on the page as I’m contemplating the experience and trying to express it for other people.”

--rrenfrow@temple-telegram.com