Things We Carry on the Sea
By Wang Ping
We carry tears in our eyes: good-bye father, good-bye mother
We carry soil in small bags: may home never fade in our hearts
We carry names, stories, memories of our villages, fields, boats
We carry scars from proxy wars of greed
continue…
I have never had to carry things as heavy as Ping describes here, things which refugees throughout history and today have to bear. This poem is heartbreaking and inspires empathy, and hopefully it will inspire me to take action. Please read the rest of her words, along with a lesson plan to teach it, at Poets.org: Teach This Poem: “Things We Carry on the Sea”.
We will be carrying some things home when we leave Bahrain, but chances are good because of our privilege we will fly in a jet across the ocean with a few suitcases of our special possessions to bring home. My May Poem for today is about my present and future homes inspired by Michelle Kogan. I love the words she creates and chooses, as she did on this post (rose-tipped and gypsy-stemmed), this post (cone-wove and beak-fluff), this post (ginger-spice-edged) and this comment (flicker-orange and tee-root). And on today’s post (poppiness and banana boats and strawberry spice). Such sweet words!
Because of Michelle, I wanted to try words with hyphens and also paint my own picture for today. I drew and painted a Kingdom of Bahrain door leading to my “magical” place inspired by the guided imagery on this episode of Art Date with Miss Kate.
When drawing with Kate, I thought of our home in Joshua Tree, California, where we will hopefully move at the end of 2021. Here is my painting and related poem. (I’m not sure if mine is considered an ekphrastic poem because I didn’t really describe the painting, but it surely inspired my words.)
Into the Door
The here-to-there Door
Where we will say our
Teary-faced, hug-full
Ma Salama مع السلامه
To two-Waters warmth,
Our hospitable Haven,
Uncovering our
Marhaba مرحبا
To sweet-hope Home
Wide open to where
Whispers-from-God Joshuas
Point to Life-drenched Promise
I decided on May 1 to write some #MayPoems, not knowing if I would do it for three days or further into the month. Well, so far I have written and posted each day in May with a different prompt, inspiration, or a response to some treasure I found while reading or observing. This Poetry Friday community has encouraged me and provided nourishment as you have read and commented on some of my May Poems. Thank you.
Here are each day’s posts in one index:
- May 1 – Missing #Verselove Already inspired by Kevin Hodgson
- May 2 – Bahrain, Land of Peace inspired by Dan Zev Levinson
- May 3 – When the Sun Falls Down inspired by Margaret Simon
- May 4 – Tic Tac Toe inspired by Poet t.l.sanders
- May 5 – Tornado Talking inspired by Patrice Vecchione
- May 6 – Tricube inspired by Matt Forrest Esenwine
- May 7 – Imagination on Poetry Friday inspired by Bridget Magee
- May 8 – Concrete Poem, Tea Pot Spot inspired again by Bridget Magee
- May 9 – Magical Magicicada inspired by Shirley McPhillips
- May 10 – Imagine a World inspired by Carmen Ridley and The Isolation Journals
- May 11 – 4 x 4 Poem inspired by Quatern and Tricube
- May 12 – Will-o’-the-Wisp prose poem inspired by H.K. Hummel and Margaret Simon’s photo
- May 13 – Redemption inspired by Sonia Jaffe Robbins
- May 14 – The ABC’s of Poetry Power inspired by Irene Latham
- May 15 – Government “Handouts” inspired by the news
- May 16 – My Daughter Maria inspired by Janice Scully
- May 17 – My Daughter Katie inspired by Donnetta Norris
- May 18 – Flamboyant Tree inspired by a walk at the mall and other Slices of my Life
- May 19 – This Photo Wants to Be a Poem inspired by Margaret Simon
- May 20 – Happy Anniversary inspired by Katie and Thomas’ fourth anniversary
- May 21 – Poetry Friday inspired by Christie Wyman
- May 22 – Feet inspired by Susan Ahlbrand’s April poetry prompt and a photo of my family before I was born
- May 23 – Two Simple Poetry Prompts inspired by Holly Lyn Walrath
- May 24 – November 22, 1963 inspired by Kathleen Neagle Sokolowski.
- May 25 – Tiny Slivers Timeline inspired by small slices of my life
- May 26 – This Photo Wants to Be a Poem inspired by Margaret Simon and Hope Dublin
- May 27 – Remember What it Was to be Me inspired by Joan Didion
- May 28 – Poetry Friday and this #MayPoems Index inspired by Michelle Kogan
- May 29 – A Triolet inspired by Buffy Silverman
- May 30 – An Ovillejo inspired by the out-of-control pandemic in Bahrain
- May 31 – A Tritina inspired by Liz Garton Scanlon
Today’s Poetry Friday roundup is hosted by Michelle Kogan at her blog. Happy birthday and thank you, Michelle!
