We have arrived at the final Thursday in April, so this is my last installment of poetry for this year's observance of National Poetry Month. The theme this week is "Poem in My Pocket" -- in other words, a poem is that is short enough to fit on a small piece of paper in your pocket, just in case you wanted to have it on you to share with someone you meet. When I think of short poems, often the first things that come to mind are haikus and limericks, but I think a free-verse poem that is short is often quite effective, saying something powerful with few words. So that's what I went for with my selection.
A Name
When Eve walked among
the animals and named them --
nightingale, red-shouldered hawk,
fiddler crab, fallow deer --
I wonder if she ever wanted
them to speak back, looked into
their wide wonderful eyes and
whispered, Name me, name me.
"A Name" from The Carrying: Poems, (c) 2018, Milkweed Editions
Thank you for sharing this annual celebration of poetry with us this month! Be sure to visit, Kym, Kat, and Bonny one last time today for their selections!
This is a really beautiful poem, Sarah! I'm going to print it out, put it in my neighbors' mailboxes, and see if they say anything. Thanks so much for sharing such wonderful poetry this month!
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite poems, Sarah! Ada is just brilliant! XO
ReplyDeleteWhat a great poem, Sarah -- and so perfect for carrying in your pocket! One year, on poem-in-your-pocket day (and before the pandemic . . . ), I actually printed up a bunch of copies of one of Mary Oliver's poems and I stuck them everywhere I went that day. I passed them out at a meeting. I stuck them in lockers at the gym. I left them on shelves in the grocery store. It felt good to share some bits of poetry! XO
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love this poem - thank you for sharing it here
ReplyDeleteWhat an evocative poem, Sarah! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful poem Sarah. It's perfect for Poem in Your Pocket Day.
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