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All righty then, today's NaPoWriMo prompt has possibilities!
"Today, in gratitude for making it to Day 20, our (optional) prompt asks you to write a poem about a handmade or homemade gift that you have received. It could be a friendship bracelet made for you by a grade-school classmate, an itchy sweater from your Aunt Louisa, a plateful of cinnamon toast from your grandmother, a mix-tape from an old girlfriend. And whatever gift you choose, we wish you happy writing!"
This morning the Writers' Trust of Canada ran a live stream with Tanya Talaga talking to Michael Crummey, Miriam Toews, Eden Robinson, and Heather O'Neill about how their writing lives have changed since the pandemic. It was a great show and if you have an hour and want to be inspired you can watch it on YouTube now. Anyway, when it was Michael's turn to talk he dropped a great line into the conversation which I immediately wrote down and that's the title of my poem today!
And yes, NaPoWriMo, that was a happy write!
In the Before Time
in the before time
we met and touched at will,
all of us mingling, laughing, dancing
as if we could meet and touch and mingle and laugh and dance
without a thought forever.
we ended up at a gay bar in the West End,
walked the streets for hours after it closed,
coming down off mushrooms
as rain spat shimmer to the the streets
and light returned.
back in your basement apartment
you showed me how to throw the I Ching,
and when I admired your copy of the book
because it was old and worn and appeared cherished
you wrote one used book to Linda inside
and gave it to me.
now that I'm old and worn and cherished
I take it out once in a while,
throw to see how life's treating me
and I think you'd like that I still have it,
and that I'm cherished,
as I hope you are, too,
wherever you are.
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4 comments:
This is such a moving poem--and very cinematic! Love these lines, "as rain spat shimmer to the the streets / and light returned."💜
Thank you, Romana!
Oh, this poem is so tender and evocative, Linda. What a wonderful gift your friend gave you. I still have my i Ching as well, and my Tarot cards. A friend once asked me if she could have mine and buy me new ones because she wanted the ones with me soaked into them. I've always regretted that I didn't let her have them. After Bob died, the kids I'd hired to help me move stuff out of the house found his and burned them. I found the ashes and some of the remains and asked why they'd done it. They said because they thought they were communications from the devil. The friend who had referred them to me said they should pay for the card out of their pay but instead I gave them a good talking to, saying there were many beliefs in this world other than theirs and that they should learn to examine other beliefs rather than condemning them. They maybe learned a lesson. Probably not. They were young avid Christians. Probably Trump supporters now.
Thank you, Judy. Burned his Tarot cards! Yes, you're probably right about how they ended up. Thank you so much for reading.
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