The BlueIris Semi-Nightly Poem Thread, 7/31/07

[BlueIris]

"For You, Who Didn’t Know"

At four A.M. I dreamed myself on that beach
where we'll take you after you're born.
I woke in a wave of blood.

Lying in the back seat of a nervous Chevy
I counted the traffic lights, lonely as planets.
Starlings stirred in the robes of Justice

over the Town Hall. Miscarriage of justice,
they sang, while you, my small client,
went curling away like smoke under my ribs.

Kick me! I pleaded. Give me a sign
that you’re still there!
Train tracks shook our flesh from our bones.

Behind the hospital rose a tree of heaven.
   You can learn something from everything,
   a rabbi told his Hasidim, who did not believe it.
   
I didn't believe it, either. O rabbi,
   What did you learn on the train to Belsen?
   That because of one second one can miss everything.

There are rooms on this earth for emergencies.
A sleepy attendant steals my clothes and my name,
and leaves me among the sinks on an altar of fear.

"Your name. Your name. Sign these papers,
authorizing us in our wisdom to save the child.
Sign here for circumcision. Your faith, your faith."
   
O rabbi, what can we learn from the telegraph?
   asked the Hasidim, who did not understand.
   And he answered, That every word is counted and charged.

"This is called a dobtone," smiles the doctor.
He greases my belly, stretched like a drum,
and plants a microphone there, like a flag.

A thousand thumping rabbits! Savages clapping for joy!
A heart dancing its name, I'm-here, I'm-here!
The cries of fishes, of stars, the tunings of hair!
   
O rabbi, what can we learn from the telephone?
   My shiksa daughter, your faith, your faith
   that what we say here is heard there.

—Nancy Willard

[SeattleGirl]

1. Wow.

Very powerful, BI.

[BlueIris]

2. Yeah, Nancy Willard is greeeeat.

[ThomCat]

3. Wow.

:cry:

[BlueIris]

10. Glad to see you're still with us, Thom.

[wildhorses]

4. thanks blueiris -- used to posting the coffee and donut with retro

sipping wine and enjoyinr your thread, immensely :hi:

[BlueIris]

8. Aw. Wine and poetry--for wine lovers, it doesn't get much better.

[BlueIris]

5. Can everybody read this okay, by the by? Does the punctuation appear okay on your monitor?

It occurs to me that I just yanked this off of a document made by my WP program, an old thing Apple made for the early iMac, so the punctuation or other characters might be showing up all weird on the screens of some posters.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. My dear BlueIris!

Wow, what a poem!

This is grand, and scary!

I can identify completely with it, too...

BTW, the poem is completely readable on my monitor...

Thank you for doing these....


:hug:

[BlueIris]

7. No, thank YOU for your patronage, C-Peg.

Hopefully, you will bring my poetry threads the acclaim they should have. :-)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

9. Ah, I do what I can...

I am nothing if not loyal...:hug:

[BlueIris]

11. Kick. nt

[BlueIris]

12. Kick. nt

[BlueIris]

13. Kick.

Yes, I am kicking last night's thread this morning, for those who missed it.

[BlueIris]

14. One final shameless kick. nt

[I Have A Dream]

15. Thanks, BI! n/t

[BlueIris]

16. Thanks for reading, Dream! nt