Startling Light

 

Poetry is not only dream and vision;

it is the skeleton architecture of our lives.

It lays the foundations for a future

of change, a bridge across our fears

of what has never been before.

Poetry is Not a Luxury, 

                Audrey Lourde

 

Friends, together shall we dig deep

for some good news, deep, 

where the earth always revives? 

Right now, why not put an ear

to the ground with our new senses

tuned by catastrophe and sorrow.

Feel pure good dirt beneath 

the forest floor, shifting slowly 

to rebirth our world above.

How the fertile underworld reaches 

up to the roots of trees who breathe 

for us, hold us, like poems bring 

revelation out of the dark. 

While the owl cries out our name 

in the night, may our endangered

souls awaken, illuminated 

with renewed vision, 

let’s RISE, rise UP

like flocks of swallows 

swing together into the air! 

May startling light 

flash off our wings 

onto the long shadow 

cast over the land.