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July 11, 2011

I have been busy writing poems this month, but have not been so good at posting them here.

Please don't give up on me my friends!!

Here is today's poem. I will try to update my posts this week.

This is a poem I originally posted in April, but have re-worked based on comments I received.

Visitation

Every Wednesday at four o'clock

the guards come down to the cold gray lobby

of the Correctional Treatment Facility.

Even the afternoon sun

finds no warmth here.

The guards bring the lists of visitors,

names that change from week to week,

but faces that remain the same.

Silent faces

screaming to tell their story.

Pained faces

hiding shame.

Questioning faces

trying to understand

a language not their own.

Anxious faces

hoping this is not the week

their loved one has been moved.

Masked faces

full of bravado.

All guarded.

We are all outsiders

waiting to meet the guards

watching each other gather

listening for our names.

When all have been stripped

of their pride and their shoes,

when every last belonging has been stowed,

when all have been searched,

down to the tiniest diaper,

the guards take their charges upstairs.

Upstairs, where our men -- sons,

cousins, husbands, brothers --

wait anxiously

one to a table.

All faces brighten in this forty-five minutes

where we can all hold hands, laugh

smell the clean of children's hair.

The faces of our quarters and dimes

roll through the snack machine

We pretend that it's a meal

and give thanks.

Perhaps for even five minutes

we can talk ourselves into being

gathered at home.

But in the end, we leave in darkness

exiting through the same lobby

into the quickening night.

Every one of us leaves a piece

of ourselves behind.

Something, perhaps, as intangible

as the reflection of a face

inside the cold panes of glass

surrounding the lobby door.

July 4, 2011

In search for themes, I find myself going back to childhood days in Ohio. The wonder of summer and the tallness of corn (even though at the time, I never thought much about it). Living in a city now and going back to my roots, we drive along 2-lane roads where either side is corn taller than the car and as far as you can see. This poem is a memory I have of going to bed in summer, when the night has not quite taken over. The quiet of the evening broken by katydids, crickets, etc. But also the comfort in hearing them through the open windows.

THE GREAT DEBATE

Katie did.

Katie didn’t.

Katy did.

The argument went on and on

night after night.

All summer.

Every evening began

a new round in the debate.

Katie did.

Katie didn’t.

Katy did.

We lay in our beds

light still holding onto the sky

dark silhouette of pines

looming outside the windows.

Katie didn’t.

Sometimes there was a pause

as if new evidence in Katie’s case

had come to light for review

all sides taking it into consideration.

Katie did.

Katie didn’t.

The disagreement continued.

It continued as the sky relaxed

and fell into darkness,

became louder as Big Bear appeared,

took his position on the matter.

Katie did.

as the archer raised his bow

concurring with the crowd.

Katie didn’t

and neither did we.

We tried to stay awake long enough

to hear the outcome of her fate,

eyes weighted by the rocking rhythm

Katie did …. Katie didn’t ….

we surrendered to nocturnal journeys

far from Katie and her advocates.

Our reveries were interrupted only

by the creep of morning and the question

of the doves “who, hoo, who?”

No one answered them,

but we always knew in our hearts

that it was never Katie.

Vision

A door closes.

A window opens.

People shout,

Jump, jump.

It takes a far-sighted person

to see the encroaching darkness

is not a void, but a pair of wings

with which to fly.

Writing for July

With help from my friends, I realize that a writer needs to keep at her craft. I have accepted an writing "challenge" (for lack of a better word) to post something every day in July -- a poem, prose, anything that I have written. I accepted as a way to keep myself writing every day, but also to read what my fellow writers have posted and to think about their work and be inspired by it.

Feel free to check back here every few days in July. I will be posting something nearly daily. Happy Reading!!


Vision

A door closes.
A window opens.
People shout
Jump, jump.

It takes a far-sighted person
to see the encroaching darkness
is not a void, but a pair of wings
with which to fly.