April is Poetry Month

 Poetry is something I always wrote as a kid.  I was known for it.  Was it good?  Maybe, I can't really tell but as I grow older the point of my art is to be creative and MAYBE impact someone.  I used to belong to an online poetry group.  One kid said he printed and carried a few of my poems with him, as they inspired him to write.  I lost touch with that group when my divorce happened and things like that were no longer around ( I think they all fell away from it as well)

I am going to try to just write a quick poem, no edits.   I was thinking about a woman I knew in college, Stella, who had swum across dangerous waters from China to freedom.  She was treated as a hero not as a dirty illegal.  I heard she married another friend from my college group, but again, I have lost touch with that group.  She told me that the form of Chinese art she produced had to be done in under three minutes or it was rejected.  So in honor of that conversation, I will try to write quickly- and TRY not to edit.

Pandemic

For the past year 

we have stared at the walls

Stared at the floor

Stared at each other

Waiting

Waiting for a cure

Waiting for release

Waiting for change

We baked bread

Painted pictures

Took photos from inside

the walls of our homes

dreaming of the outdoors

We became keyboard warriors

either attacking mercilessly 

or sending messages of hope to effect change.

We found God

We lost God

We made and lost connections that were precious.

Life went on

Life goes on

There was great loss

but also great gains

Hope became a tangible thing

something we could hold 

in delicate outstretched fingers

that we now offer

as we emerge

tentatively

into the morning sun.

Phew  ok.   I hope you like it.  Only one teeny edit, done before I hit the return key so it doesn't count.

I have been embracing different art to find my balance.  Work is good, but not exactly art and I need the balance.  Once I am vaccinated, I hope to get outside with my camera and take photos, something I enjoy. I have been housebound long enough.