Stone Soup Croutons is a weekly poem I write using lines and impressions picked from Stone Soup Poetry's open mic readers and features. I figure out a title (and sometimes the rest of the poem) later. You can read the other ones I've done since 2015 here.
I also have an award nominated book out now collecting the best of my first year of poems. Click here to purchase it.
Coleen Houlihan came back at last! It was a marvelous reading that did a lot to complement the fact that it was the end of Women's History Month. I tried to incorporate that theme into my poem.
It's usually a warning sign when I try to speak for a group, let alone a marginalized one, but it would have been dishonest to not make an attempt and honor Coleen's work.
This week marks the first time in forever that I've been able to write a crouton poem while the feature was happening. This means it's been "finished" in my journal since Wednesday night. I wanted to make sure it was done early because of National Poetry Writing Month and the added work from that challenge. I'm glad I had a day to sit with it. Hopefully, it's better for the time I let it breathe. Thanks for reading.
Mom Would Say
Walk a millennium
in your mother's shoes.
Too small for your feet,
they took colossus steps
past each man who grasped
They refuse to trade crowns
for wool sweaters, content
to spend winter discontent.
What's his is his. Leave
anything he can't carry
to the roaches.
Hearts undercount beats
to avoid the collectors
coming to take what's due,
bodies abused worse than
farmers. The down-to-earth
can stay under there.
Men write the songs
that seize the world.
Women wait underground,
count down each blood moon,
stall suicides, halt head rolls,
wait for music to stop
so they can write new ending,
a red dot in the sky
for final sentence.
 |
| I love a good reunion. |
Special thanks to Patricia Carragon, Ed Gault, John Sturm, David Miller, Carol Weston, Jan Rowe, Nancy Dodson, Mignon Ariel King, Bil Lewis, Margaret Nairn, James Van Looy, Lo Galluccio and Coleen Houlihan.
No comments:
Post a Comment