I’ve been exploring the blues poem form these last few weeks. My students and I read Finding Langston, so I pulled out some Langston Hughes poems. I grew up in Mississippi and something about the form feels like home to me. You can read more about blues poems here.
We’ve had a few hurricanes this year. Of course, the year 2020 is cursed as you know, but even for a curse, five hurricanes have threatened our state of Louisiana. Five! One of them, Delta, came pretty close to us here in bayou country. So with blues and hurricanes on my mind, I looked at this picture on my phone of a great white egret in the bayou a few days after Hurricane Delta. What do egrets do during a hurricane?
Egret Blues
It’s a tryin’ time to be a symbol of peace.
Tryin’ during this time to be peace,
full of a sad song in the air.
There’s a sad song swirling in the air.
Tropical winds just don’t care.That hurricane down south in the gulf,
A storm makes peaceful turn to rough.
I’m walkin’ this line waitin’ for a sign,
a sign of weather’s high-pitched whine
I can’t keep from cryin’.Egret blues echo in my Lord’s sunrise
Margaret Simon, draft 2020
Lord’s sunrise blurs my sideways eyes
I’m catchin’ the tailwind, ready to fly
Ready to fly through the bright new sky
A horizon of Peace by and by.
Reflections on the Teche 
What a gorgeous poem to wake up to, this morning. This line….it’s so bluesy and so lovely: ” Egret blues echo in my Lord’s sunrise.” I’m not sure you need to label this one draft. It’s wonderful as is. Thank you for sharing some Blues with us today.
I often wonder about the birds during a storm, too. We’ve had several days of rain here and I woke this morning hoping the birds had found a good sheltering spot. I think you captured the voice of the egret so well in this poem. And I love the line “A horizon of Peace by and by.” I hope we all experience that soon.
Oh, Margaret, this is so pretty. I love seeing egrets, even here in Colorado during the warm time. I love the voice in your poem, feel like I can “hear” the egret’s voice singing & pretending there’s music strumming along. I’m glad this Zeta didn’t hit you, but it certainly did its damage as did the others & I’m sorry for that.
Very powerful poem Margaret, feels like a blues song to me. I like how you roll some of your words into succeeding lines, they are hanging on, like hanging on in a storm… And you all have had too many hurricanes this year. I wonder what the egrets do too.
These lines do justice to your blues poem, Margaret.
Egret blues echo in my Lord’s sunrise
Lord’s sunrise blurs my sideways eyes
I’m catchin’ the tailwind, ready to fly
There is such hope in these lines-a sky full of possibility.
That last stanza brought tears to my eyes – so plaintively beautiful. Simple faith and trust during anything but simple times. I absolutely love this Margaret – it needs to be framed and displayed where it can be seen every single day.
Oh, those tropical winds. They really don’t care! I love your egret, in picture and words. Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
You definitely have a knack for the blues form!
Beautiful egret! I hope he did OK during the storm. “catchin’ a tailwind, ready to fly.” I hope he did. Lovely poem and thanks for the link to more about blues poems.