Tuesday was a hard day for everyone who works in a school, or is a parent, or abhors the shooting of human beings of any age. Like many of you, I reached for poetry, for something to hold onto in this freefall of tragedy.
I hope you found some cushion, too. Our roundup is hosted this week by your friend and mine, the brave Linda Mitchell, librarian extraordinaire, who has put herself on the line to protect students this year. Thank you, Linda, for putting a word in edgewise, again and again.
I just saw a great video of HS graduates all around a parachute lifting it up and down...reliving favorite memories. Yes, poems are our parachutes and on Fridays we all lift them up and run underneath letting them billow around us while we giggle next to our friends. What a great poem. Thank you, Heidi. This poem is a keeper.
ReplyDeleteThanks for 'hammocking' us with your words, Heidi.
ReplyDelete"Hammocked" is so great here... and yes to wielding poems! Thank you. xo
ReplyDeleteWell said, Heidi. (The only thing I wonder about is "wield," which sounds a little like we are brandishing a poem instead of clinging to it?)
ReplyDeleteSorry, that was me
DeleteYes, I think there are poems that are appropriately brandish-worthy. What is the most fiery and furious poem you know? I like this one: https://jellyfishreview.wordpress.com/2017/10/13/collective-nouns-for-humans-in-the-wild-by-kathy-fish/
DeleteThis poem and Linda's memory... Friends and poetry.
ReplyDeleteThis is lovely.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this. It is balm.
ReplyDeleteYour words, your poem, so totally apt for the time and its horrendous events Heidi. As Sarah Grace noted, it is a balm for the soul.
ReplyDeletewe are grateful to be hammocked with you
ReplyDeleteSo well said, Heidi. Thank you for reminding us of the power of words.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your poem cushion, Heidi.
ReplyDelete"a tool, an armor, a shelter
ReplyDeletea tonic, a blanket..."
Yes. Poems can be all those things, and yes to the ones that are wielded, brandished, and unsheathed to cut a swath through insanity and lead us to change.
Heidi, thank you for your poem, for your words that remind us that "hammocked" together even in adversity, our words, our poems speak to help all of us. Great poem!
ReplyDelete