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Monday, January 11, 2016

This One Stays

I have been reading this poem for about two weeks now. It's entitled "Staying Power" and it has stayed with me. I keep coming back to it--the visceral images, the deeper meaning. There are some poems that remain. This is one for me. 

Photo by Solarbotics
excerpt from "Staying Power" 
by Jeanne Murray Walker

God, I say as my heart turns inside out.
Pick up any language by the scruff of its neck,

wipe its face, set it down on the lawn,
and I bet it will toddle right into the godfire
again, which—though they say it doesn't
exist—can send you straight to the burn unit.

Oh, we have only so many words to think with.
Say God's not fire, say anything, say God's
a phone, maybe. You know you didn't order a phone,
but there it is. It rings.

Read the full poem here

More about Ms. Walker at her website.

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