Four Poems of the Week

In the many, many wonderful poems we all read, there are sometimes poems that stand out above the rest, that make us pause and say to ourselves, "This is what poetry is all about!" Recently I came across four such poems and decided, instead of featuring only one Poem of the Week, to offer all four, for your delectation. The first is by Sumana Roy, who writes at Vision. 

LOVE IN THE TIME OF WAR

When little hands pick food crumbs

Cities bellow fire and wrath

Death promises a visit to all homes

The busy Swans’ shenanigans

Petrify all sobbing Ledas*

We see old peasants till lands

Youths drown in their beloved’s eye

Life dances out of dark wombs

White shroud begins to melt

Crocuses smile all over

  

[*Leda and the Swan is a story and subject in art from Greek mythology in which the god Zeus, in the form of a swan, seduces or rapes Leda. Wikipedia]

I was struck by the image of children picking crumbs from rocks, as that brings the reality of war up close. It is an image that has remained in my mind. Thank you, Sumana, for this gift of a poem, and for helping us "see" more clearly.

The next offering is by Joshua Sutherland Allen, who writes at Lives Remembered. His sonnet about his lost daughter really touched my heart. His poem to his wife, about her death, is equally beautiful. Do check out  A Sonnet to My Wife, the Mother of My Child, if you haven't yet read it. 

SNOW

First rain, then sleet, then lightly sweeping snow,

Swift falling wintry mix that chills the air

And frosts the muddy autumn ground below,

Call to our minds a girl, whose locks of hair,

Both black and beautiful against her face,

Frame sweet eyes closed in some eternal prayer.

A blizzard marked her birth; the holy space

Of hospital room, windows etched with frost,

Was where we held our love and felt her grace.

The snow still brings to us the girl we lost,

Somehow connects us to her once again –

Our spirits meet when earth with snow is glossed.

When winter sun sets shimmering ice aglow

We smile, and say that Harper says hello.

Thank you, Joshua, for sharing your loss with such love and beauty.  Your poem touches our hearts. I can see that beautiful girl, and see her smile when Harper says hello.

Our next poem, shimmering with beautiful imagery, was written recently by Bjorn Rudberg, whose work is found at Bjorn Rudbergs Writings. Poets were to write their Manifestos, for dVerse, and Bjorn's really sings!

LIKE DANCING A TARANTELLA, 
MY MANIFESTO FOR DVERSE

This is a world where only in the shadows

there is light,
where only in the darkness you can see the beacons
guiding us towards a future
where dawn can outshine
the pirate’s lighthouse leading us astray.

It is a world where even winds
will tell you lies,
and the verdant spring of hope
is spray-painted on your retina.

My sight is set into the shadow-plays of misery
that trig impulses in my brain,
and electrified synapses lead my fingertips,
to dance tarantella on laptop’s keyboard.

I will let my words on stumbling meter
penetrate computer clouds.
I will let them spread like mycorrhiza -
invisible – yet domineering,
feeding on the dung beneath,
and send forth my mushrooms
into the lying daydreams of this world.

I will sing in voice of reason.
I will be the helmsman in a stormy sea
who finds the truthful light among the
will-o’-the-wisps that leads into the shadows
and even deeper into ignorance and death.
I will let truthful paths guide my fingers
from wrath to reason.

I will never let my writing cease
I will let it flow and overflow the lies
that lead our ship to moor on hostile reefs.
I will survive

Yes, never let your writing cease, Bjorn. Keep finding that "truthful light" and sharing it with us! 

When I read Gabriella's poem, How to Keep Sane, posted for Poetry Jam, I had to ask her if I might include it. As we enter the busiest time of year, we might need to take her good advice. You will know this poet from Gabriella's Writing Corner, and her active participation on-line.

How to Keep Sane

First switch the tv off

turn away from social media

forget hatred and violence

all useless cacophony 

Phone a friend, relative

share a meal or coffee

visit a new museum

browse in a bookstore

Don a warm sweater 

do not forget the gloves

go outside, breathe in

observe deer and squirrels

Take your brushes and paints

get your camera out

look and listen to the world

pour your heart into your art.

I think this is really how we do keep sane, given the bombardment of bad news we hear during every news report. 

Thank you, Sumana, Joshua, Bjorn, and Gabriella, for sharing your work with us, and for your on-going participation and support of Poets United.

I hope you enjoyed these selections, my friends. Do come back to see who we talk to next. Who knows? It might be you!