This blog is devoted to a select group of poets. We're starting with poets from the Ann Arbor area, but, hey, if you're from Detroit, Grand Rapids, Saginaw or the Upper Peninsula, then that is okay, too. We've even been so generous to accept poets from other parts of the USA and the entire country of Canada!
Our goal is to provide you with a prompt every day from which you are to garner inspiration and submit a poem. How to submit will be very easy. Just put your poem or short story in the comments section and hit post. You may not immediately see your post, but it is there under the "Comments" section. You may need to click on "Comments" to see your poem. It is there on another page.
You may need to have a Gmail or Yahoo or AOL account to post in the comments section. Most of you do have Gmail or Yahoo or AOL, but for those of you that don't, it's extremely worthwhile to open up one of these email accounts now! This way you've got a chance to get your work out there in the world.
Save Your Face For Graduation
ReplyDeleteShe lived in a world of messages
Sometimes visible
But mostly unseen
The world talked to her
Gave her clues and signs
Portents and warnings
She said I might live in this world
If I could just slow down and listen
If I couldn't listen then look
Really look
Look until people
Or pets
Even things
Took on a radiance or dullness
This world we live in, she said
Either gives or takes
So last night I stared in the mirror
It felt like a long time
Perhaps an hour
I couldn't see anything but my own face
Every pore and line and scar and blemish
I might have imagined this but there were moments
When I felt illuminated
My skin and hair giving off a radiance
A gleam or shining
But when I got too excited
That light diminished
It receded like the low tide
The water still there but being drawn out to sea
Like I said I might have imagined this all
I think it's easier to start with pennies on the ground
Or feathers that drift by your window on a bus
Or a cold draft in a warm room on a hot day
Or a cloud that looks like your dead mother
Looking for signs here seems less complicated
More straightforward
Less open to self-conscious interpretation
Get proficient in reading the outward world
Save your face for graduation
Catherine Powers
November 5, 2013
Copyright 2013