Tag: Manama

Missing #Verselove Already

Denise Krebs4 Comments

Today was the first day that we didn’t have a poetry prompt for National Poetry Month at Ethical ELA. It’s May 1, of course, so I missed writing and reading others’ poetry. I went out looking for another prompt. I saw Kevin’s poem and tweet about his inspiration:

I then watched the video Kevin shared by George Ella Lyon talking about the creation and shape of her poem “Whole Round World,” about the “Trimates,” the three scientists who carried on Louis Leakey’s work with primates. You can watch Lyon’s interview here:

She suggested playing with the shape of your poem and using white space to make it like a a sculpture. She also mentions that you have to begin writing the poem first and let the shape emerge. So I went to a new favorite post called “141 Ways to Play, Process, Stretch, Express, Disrupt Words and Form” from Ethical ELA and found a prompt called “Synesthesia and Color” by Jennifer Guyor-Jowett.

I chose these two beautiful colors–Secure Blue and Sequin–because they reminded me of the colors of the skyscrapers here in Manama.

Secure Sequins

The    c  a  m  e  l  s    used to roam near Manama
where the sea foam came all the way up to Bab Al Bahrain.
Savory rice
w
a                 s
f      t
through the neighborhoods as the herdsmen
prepare to go    w   a   y     o   u   t      to look for
untouched ground for     g      r      a      z      i      n      g.
Sandy lots in the souq remain where bricks are formed by hands.

Now, come,
build the
skyscrapers
of progress
Speckling
downtown
sandy buildings
with panels
where the light
shines blue. Secure
for government and
finance. They wonder
at times if the ancestors
hoped for this advancement
when they walked the camels
through the villages to find enough to eat.

Memories of hopes for security and sequins in the desert

Bahrain Financial Harbour in the Manama skyline as seen from the mall where I was this afternoon.

O, God, Save Us

Denise Krebs2 Comments

I have a FitBit, and right now I am on a bit of a 10,000-step-a-day streak. I also like to keep moving for at least 30 minutes each day. Sometimes I keep going while my husband runs an errand. Today I kept walking while he went into the Viva store to take care of a mobile phone issue.

Last week, when I needed a few more minutes to hit my goal, my hubby stopped at the market to buy some cashews. I went in, but I kept moving, moving around the store. He told me I was like a cat underfoot, going here and there, needing herding.

Tonight we walked through the dark alleyways and narrow streets of Manama, where I am never afraid. It’s dusty and run-down and crowded with cars parked on the sidewalks and people going every which way. Cars squeeze through places you would never believe they’d fit. (I spent almost a whole lifetime thinking I needed more room to drive than I really do.)

I took a walk with my husband tonight, after we heard about the tragedy in Las Vegas. I am weeping that my own country seems so unsafe and broken nowadays. O, God, save us, I pray.

Evening walk in the souk. #bahrainwtc #10000steppartyonmywrist

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