Thursday, June 24, 2010

I have loved this poem for a long time.

For the Sake of Strangers
by Dorianne Laux

No matter what the grief, its weight,
we are obliged to carry it.
We rise and gather momentum,the dull strength
that pushes us through crowds.
And then the young boy gives me directions
so avidly. A woman holds the glass door open,
waits patiently for my empty body to pass through.
All day it continues,each kindness
reaching toward another---a stranger
singing to no one as I pass on the path,trees
offering their blossoms, a retarded child
who lifts his almond eyes and smiles.
Somehow they always find me, seem even
to be waiting, determined to keep me
from myself,from the thing that calls to me
as it must have once called to them---
this temptation to step off the edge
and fall weightless,away from the world.


"STEP OFF THE EDGE AND FALL WEIGHTLESS"....Oh I think I have honestly felt this way a few times in my life.....not to the extreme that some would feel...
but a wishing away from pain and lonliness and grief..oh yeah...
But I have always heard that still small voice......
"and no matter what the grief,its weight.." I found a way to carry it
and found happiness and joy just around the corner...
but I know some who could not
So I try to live this poem
and be the young boy
-a woman
-a stranger
-a retarded child
-someone that always finds
-someone always waiting

It is a reminder that everything we do is important
and matters
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8 comments:

  1. Ya know, Suz, you DO live your poetry. And you live THIS poem. The fact that you posted this and talk about it is evidence of that. You're correct that everything we do is important.

    In my case, everything I TRY to do is more important in my becoming what you encourage here:

    I'm not even close to being there yet.

    Wonderful message, Suz.

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  2. Suz--Just read a bunch of your blogs and they have hit me in a way tonight that I cannot tell you. Thanks for posting all these. I read all the way down through you Magpie Tales, which by the way, was great. I am sad today because two friends have died. They were unrelated but both died on the same day. Sad, sad day. Thanks for the great thoughts here. A Lutheran girl who loves potatoes. Hmmm....I used to be Lutheran. Gave it up. Love potatoes. Did not give them up. Despite the carbs.

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  3. Teri,
    I was just thinking this morning how much I babble on about what goes on inside my head and heart..and isn't it boring to others to read my musings...maybe I should write about decorating or something...and then
    you and Uta...suffering...and I was that someone to you
    thank you....
    and here's a prose poem I love..it speaks the words I know...
    from Nessa Rapoport's book,
    A Woman's Book of Grieving

    Undo it,take it back,make every day the previous one
    until I am returned to the day before the one that made
    you gone. Or set me on an airplane traveling west,
    crossing the date line again and again, losing this day,
    then that, until the day of loss still lies ahead, and you are here instead of sorrow.

    Here's a hug...I am so sorry for your loss

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great poem. Wow. And I like that saying, Live Your Poem. I constantly turn to Mary Oliver's 'Wild Geese' to get my bearings.

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  5. I LOVE that tag.
    I love this poem.
    I love you.
    You DO do that.
    I am grateful.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The red dragon fly in the image is wonderful! I love red dragon flies.

    ReplyDelete

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