You don't need me to remind you that the future of our planet belongs to these our youngest poets. You need THEM to remind you.
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Today this year's Progressive Poem lands with me. As an ever-changing but pretty consistent group, we've written journeys before--quite a few--but never one that could literally mean the difference between life and death. I'd like to thank Janice who, on Day 3, introduced this whole new dimension with just 11 carefully chosen words. This poem has STAKES, the kind of stakes that many of us have never had to live through. Today I've tried to give our narrator some more of what they need to make it through, and my lines of four beats have gone double-time in recognition of the urgency.
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Cradled in stars, our planet sleeps,clinging to tender dreams of peace
sister moon watches from afar,
singing lunar lullabies of hope.
almost dawn. I walk with others,
keeping close my little brother.
hand in hand, we carry courage
escaping closer to the border
My feet are lightning;
My heart is thunder.
Our pace draws us closer
to a new land of wonder.
I bristle against rough brush—
poppies ahead brighten the browns.
Morning light won’t stay away—
hearts jump at every sound.
I hum my own little song
like ripples in a stream
Humming Mami’s lullaby
reminds me I have her letter
My fingers linger on well-worn creases,
shielding an address, a name, a promise–
Sister Moon will find always us
surrounding us with beams of kindness
But last night as we rested in the dusty field,
worries crept in about matters back home.
I huddled close to my brother. Tears revealed
the no-choice need to escape. I feel grown.
Leaving all I’ve ever known
the tender, heavy, harsh of home.
On to maybes, on to dreams,
on to whispers we hope could be.
But I don't want to whisper! I squeeze Manu's hand.
"¡Más cerca ahora!" Our feet pound the sand.
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