An Invitation: With Laura Purdie Salas’s blessing, I’ve started a weekly writing prompt for Thursdays in the spirit of 15 words or less. Pop over to read the poems this week about a pretty pink thistle: This Photo Wants to be a Poem.
This week my students and I read Joyce Sidman’s poem in the December issue of Scope magazine: Song of Bravery. There were a few things to notice in her poem, allusion and irony. When one normally thinks of a song, it’s something positive and praising. Joyce Sidman’s poem stated the opposite.
Joyce Sidman, Song of Bravery from What the Heart Knows
This one’s not a sure thing.
I’m not bound to win.
I don’t think I’ll ace it this time.
I won’t break a leg,
make my own luck,
or reach the stars.
read the whole poem here.
After Joyce, I wrote Song of the Sacred.
I am not a barefoot Buddha.
Margaret Simon, draft
I cannot think and become.
I’m not singing rhyming psalms
in the present moment.
When I fall on my knees, they hurt.
I have no burnt offerings
or holy incense to light.
Maybe I pray with open hands
or maybe someone prays for me.
I’ll never know.
But here I am
stretched in savasana
humming an Om
with my eyes closed tight
Breathing to clear my mind
from the shadows of a cloudy day
to see the holy sun.
I love the turn at, “But here I am” doing/being all the things I thought I wasn’t. How beautiful. I’ve always wanted to write specifically to lent. But, I just haven’t been able to do it yet.
All we can do is bring hope to ourselves and to others, Margaret, “Breathing to clear my mind/from the shadows of a cloudy day.” Beautifully written to all of us and to yourself, too.
Love those final lines, Margaret, and I’m so excited about “This Photo Wants to be a Poem.”
I love both of the poems here today Margaret. I am reminded that sometimes all we can do is be there doing what we can, and accept that it is enough.
Your poem hits the spot, Margaret. Sometimes focusing on the breath is hard enough.
This is so lovely with the movement from uncertainty to here I am. Sometimes here I am is all we can do, and it is enough. I look forward to checking out the weekly poetry prompts.
I feel that I have been there with you in that pose, Margaret. The up side is, you are trying to see the holy sun. Lovely. Thanks!
I like both of these poems Margaret–some days are not easy for all of us, but what we can do with them at the end of the day, or after some time, by taking a step back and breathing, might help us to see some light… Thanks.