i read a poem on liz elayne's blog
that has stuck with me
ever since.
the poet is thomas lux...
hate the people of this village
and would nail our hats
to our heads for refusing in their presence to remove them
or staple our hands to our foreheads
for refusing to salute them
if we did not hurt them first: mail them packages of rats,
mix their flour at night with broken glass.
We do this, they do that.
They peel the larynx from one of our brothers’ throats.
We devein one of their sisters.
The quicksand pits they built were good.
Our amputation teams were better.
We trained some birds to steal their wheat.
They sent to us exploding ambassadors of peace.
They do this, we do that.
We canceled our sheep imports.
They no longer bought our blankets.
We mocked their greatest poet
and when that had no effect
we parodied the way they dance
which did cause pain, so they, in turn, said our God
was leprous, hairless.
We do this, they do that.
Ten thousand (10,000) years, ten thousand
(10,000) brutal, beautiful years.
i'm not sure what it is about this poem that draws me in...
the brutal beautiful language,
the short succinct sentences...
the haunting truth...
but i know it stuck with me
and that's when i know i love a poem...
when years later
i remember having read it
and go on a mad search trying to find it....
what about you?
have a favorite poem...
please share...
i'd love to hear it...
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2 comments:
Visiting here from Relyn's place. Yes, I do have a favorite poem, one that has stayed with me for over three decades. It's by Ellen Bass and called "If you want me." A friend photocopied it for me. I had looked for it for years, buying several Ellen Bass poetry volumes but never finding it. So I contacted Ellen by email, asking her for guidance. And she sent me the original galley proof from its first publication. I felt truly blessed.
i need to look up the names of some of the poems that i love
rilke, rumi, cummings, and dickinson are my favorite poets
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