Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can't strike them all by ourselves.
~Laura Esquivel
The votes are still being counted as I write this, and the race hasn't been called. I found this VP cookout for the troops yesterday for celebration dinner ideas; I am trying to make the most of the wait.
For the last few years, we've been going through a dark time, and the people who encouraged and enabled that dark time are still with us. We have to celebrate and rest so we can return to our vigilance again.
A Coal Fire In Winter
by Thomas McGrath
Something old and tyrannical burning there.
(Not like a wood fire which is only
The end of summer, or a life)
But something of darkness: heat
From the time before there was fire.
And I have come here
To warm that blackness into forms of light,
To set free a captive prince
From the sunken kingdom of the father coal.
A warming company of the cold-blooded-
These carbon serpents of bituminous gardens,
These inflammable tunnels of dead song from the black pit,
This sparkling end of the great beasts, these blazing...
read the rest here
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Soul Blossom Living has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Susan!
14 comments:
Thanks for sharing this powerful and vivid poem Tabatha, what an image this line creates:
"These carbon serpents of bituminous gardens,"
Thanks for the Popular Vote link, I sent off a letter–here's hoping for light to reemerge, xo.
What a powerful poem, Tabatha. Please know, too, that in your waiting, there are people all round the world waiting with you and hoping that right will prevail.
the old high roads of inexhaustible light...may we all travel them, and now! Thank you, Tabatha. xo
What a stunning poem...so perfect for not only November but today as we are coming out of the darkness of uncertainty into the light of pure math. We can have hope again. But, I will never take the work of our Democracy for granted again. Vigilance, indeed. You made a perfect pick for today. Well done.
Thanks, Tabatha, perfect for today. We've been building more fires outside and I've spent a fair amount of time staring at the burning coals.
Wow--this is epic! Yes for hope and poetry and slaying dark dragons.
Hanging on with you by the light of the coal fire, waiting for the results!
Bringing the light feels like something everyone needs. I know I've been waiting for a long while. Thanks for this, Tabatha. Sometimes when I read a poem that 'says' something that feels as if it's for right now, I look at the date, this one 1964, & then I remind myself to remember there have been dark times, many dark times, before. It brings reality to the fore. Thanks!
"And I have come here
To warm that blackness into forms of light,
To set free a captive prince..."
Great lines to think about while hoping for darkness to end and a new light burn, Tabetha. Thank you for this post.
What deliciously rich language in that poem! I'll never look at coal the same way again!
Thank you for sharing this poem, Tabatha. I'm in awe of McGrath's imagery, especially "incandescent fruit."
Oh, Tabatha - how you find things that strike to the center of the heart ... "and I have come here/To warm that blackness into forms of light" ... is that not why we write...especially poetry...
Thank you for this.
Yes. My family and friends are all heaving great sighs of relief and taking a week off before tackling all the work still to be done.
Thanks for sharing this powerful poem. There is so much work ahead, and yet times seem less dark than when you posted this a few days ago. And it's good to pause for a moment and celebrate. Such luscious language! I especially like "these blazing stone flowers diamond fire incandescent fruit."
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