I think sometimes in the focus on deep friendships and on romantic relationships, we can lose sight of how important the small connections we make are with strangers and with people that we may encounter for just a few seconds or a few minutes.
~Vivek Murthy
Happy Poetry Friday! I often use a photo from my phone to go with my posts and right now I am taking oodles of cherry blossom pictures.
Today's poem is from Split This Rock.org.
To the woman I saw today who wept in her car
By Bianca Lynne Spriggs
Woman,
I get it.
We are strangers,
but I know the heart is a hive
and someone has knocked yours
from its high branch in your chest
and it lays cracked and splayed,
spilling honey all over
the ground floor of your gut
and the bees inside
that you've trained
over the days and years
to stay put, swarm
the terrain of your organs,
yes,
right here in traffic,
while we wait for the light to change.
I get it.
How this array of metal and plastic...
read the rest here
**************
Reflections on the Teche has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Margaret!
11 comments:
I heard something recently about how we prioritize romantic love over all other loves, and how this creates a feeling of lack in those who don't have that kind of relationship, and how love is love is love, and we don't need to measure or compare or categorize...and I love that...and this! Plus: the heart is a hive. beautiful! xo
Such a powerful poem with amazing metaphors I want to steal. I have come to realize through my years of living that connections to strangers do matter.
"And yet, I want you to know that
today, in the hive of my heart,
there is room enough
for you."
May we all make room for the heart of a stranger. Thanks for this inspiration.
Stunning poem, Tabatha. I think our brief encounters are very meaningful if we pay attention, and sometimes that is all we have in a course of a day.
I saw a woman today when at the grocery & this reminds me of that. She looked so very unhappy & I thought about her all the time & then ran into her, gave her a big smile, but no, she just kept on going. Now, I read the poem you've shared & wonder again, just like at the end when the poet knows that the person did not see that she was seen, & no matter, there's still room in her heart. It's a poem that will last with me, Tabatha, as that woman's face will. Thank you!
What could be more powerful than, "I see you. You are loved."
Golly, oh golly. I think somehow I have stopped a practice that some always found objectionable, questionable, intrusive, which is to give honest compliments to strangers--but all I know is that if someone says "I LOVE that sweater" or thanks me as I hold the door for them, it makes my day. (I wonder why when the Emissions Test guy, very friendly, called me "Beautiful" it crossed a line somewhere?)
You are sooo right! A gentleman on a walk just yesterday wrapped himself around my dog and just buried his head in her neck and when he surfaced he had the biggest smile on his face - and all we said to one another was "Good morning!"
Thank you for this poem. I read the poem - and then listened to it being read (always a bonus!). I've been rereading Tyler Knott Gregson's "Miracle in the Mundane." I just read his challenge of "human sampling,"
"Each person, each beautiful stranger we walk by on the street, sit next to on the train, ... each has their own stories, and they are the star of them," reminds Gregson. He suggests considering those stories in our poetry and building a deeper understanding of others.
What a stunning metaphor - the heart as a beehive.
Spriggs' poem embodies everything we all want as humans: to be seen and 'got'. Thanks for sharing, Tabs. (sorry I'm so late to your post) :)
Feeling safe and protecting ourselves is sometimes a tricking area, thanks for sharing Sprigg's poem, and your gorgeous swooning cherry blossoms, wow, what a wonderful bedroom view you have 💗
Post a Comment