Today is Poetry Friday, and Karen Edmisten is hosting. Thank you!
Thank you, Poetry Sisters, for the invitation to join you in passing notes to a poem. I chose to use first lines in Nikki Giovanni’s “Talk to Me, Poem, I Think I Got the Blues” to start my stanzas. Then I wrote a note to Mary Oliver’s “Poppies”, a poem that I loved and read several times last weekend when I was with my family at my brother-in-law’s memorial service.
Talk to me, Orange Poem
(After Nikki Giovanni and Mary Oliver)
Talk to me, Poem.
Orange has always been
a color of happiness.
Have you been hijacked, Poem?
Your poppies as orange flares
with their sweet yellow hair–
I love those poppies of orange.
I know poems grow old,
but you are just over thirty.
So, not so old.
I know poems get remembered,
and I will remember you.
When I forget beauty.
When I forget invitation.
When the deep, blue night
tries to make me forget orange.
I will remember you, Poem.
What are your strengths, Poem?
levitating light,
happiness done right,
a kind of holiness,
washed and washed,
you say.
Yes, your strengths.
Talk to me, Orange Poem.
Make me happy again.
My goodness, a memorial service is such a sad time to find such a beautiful poem. Your questions addressed to the poem are probing. ‘Have you been hijacked?” Bam!
Ah, that ending is a heartbreaker! Lovely. Thank you for sharing, Denise! xo
Levitating light/kindness done right/a kind of holiness/washed and washed…
I don’t know why the repetition of that washing – water pouring, the imagery of it spilling down, washing over and over the beauty of words, elevating us – that is beautifully poignant.
Weeping may endure for the night, we’re told. Sometimes it seems that the night is terribly long. But poppy orange creeps across the sunrise, friend. Hold on.
Mary Oliver’s Poppies is such a great choice to keep you company and to respond to. I like poppies as flares. Poems themselves can be flares, can’t they? Sending you a Mary Oliver hug with a sprinkle of levitation.
“When the deep blue night/tries to make me forget orange…” Why did these lines bring me to tears? That’s poetry. Thank you, Denise.
So powerful, Carol – I had the same responses as Tanita, but she has expressed them so beautifully. I’m sorry for another loss in your family. You continue to amaze me in the ways you don’t hide from grief but turn it into beauty.
Beautiful, Denise. I was so touched by:
When I forget beauty.
When I forget invitation.
When the deep, blue night
tries to make me forget orange.
I will remember you, Poem.
Lovely and sad and relatable.
And again, condolences, on the loss of your brother-in-law. xo
This is poetry, when you go in expecting one thing and find quite another.
I also want to lift up the lines Karen chose above. They are my favorite.
“When I forget invitation…”
Sympathies to you and your family. You have had some hard losses recently.
Denise, family loss is a difficult one to maneuver. Leaning on a Mary Oliver poem is a touching attempt to bring a sense of peace. Your stanza 5 resonated with me and then there was the ending line that brought back a taste of sorrow. Be at peace!
I love that you chose this Mary Oliver poem to be in conversation with. the fourth stanza is so moving, especially this part:
I know poems get remembered,
and I will remember you.
When I forget beauty.
When I forget invitation.
Thank you for sharing this poem.
Your poem is a hopeful one, full of light that can’t be denied. Orange. I need a little now. Lovely poem with a joyful image that I will remember.