National Poetry Month 2018
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Afternoon Light by John Gibson
Sometimes it’s in the details of the day,
these spokes of wheel, pattern of brick, leaf fall.
Sometimes it’s the conversation you hear,
standing by, eavesdropping, that gossip-talk.
Sometimes it’s the way you walk to and fro,
wandering through tall grass and stepping into light.
–Margaret Simon, (c) 2018
“A poet needs to keep his wilderness alive inside him.” Stanley Kunitz
As I write a poem every day to my father’s incredible art, I feel unworthy, like a child waiting for a parent’s approval. When I wrote the poem above and many of the ones I’ve done this month, I hear the echo of a first line in my head. I go with it and follow it through the path to a poem. Sometimes I don’t think it’s really me writing. More like scribing. The Stanley Kunitz quote above speaks to this wilderness inside me where poems live. I’ve decided to trust this voice even when I don’t really understand her.
Reflections on the Teche 