Thursday, April 09, 2020

National Poetry Month, Day 9

This poem has only been open on my desktop for a few days, because my daughter sent it to me just recently. It was quoted by Lauren Winner in her book Wearing God.

I'm just going to give you the first couple of stanzas, but the real punch of this poem is right at the end, so be sure to click through and read the whole thing.

Staying Power
by Jeanne Murray Walker

Like Gorky, I sometimes follow my doubts
outside to the yard and question the sky,
longing to have the fight settled, thinking
I can't go on like this, and finally I say

all right, it is improbable, all right, there
is no God. And then as if I'm focusing
a magnifying glass on dry leaves, God blazes up.

Here's the rest.

This poem reminds me of the time when a lot of Jesus' followers were leaving because of difficult times, and He asked His disciples if they would leave too, and Peter answered, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68).

Carol Varsalona has today's line for the Progressive Poem! Actually, like everyone else this year, she's written two lines, and it's up to the next poet to pick one.

1 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
2 Irene Latham at Live Your Poem
3 Jone MacCulloch, at deo writer
4 Liz Steinglass at Elizabeth Steinglass
5 Buffy Silverman at Buffy Silverman Children's Author
6 Kay McGriff at A Journey Through The Pages
7 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
8 Tara Smith at Going to Walden
9 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
10 Matt Forrest Esenwine at Radio, Rhythm, and Rhyme
11 Janet Fagel hosted at Reflections on the Teche
12 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
13 Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers
14 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
15 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
16 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
17 Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe
18 Mary Lee Hahn at A Year of Reading
19 Tabatha at Opposite of Indifference
20 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
21 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
22 Julieanne Harmatz at To Read, To Write, To Be
24 Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wandering
25 Amy at The Poem Farm
26 Dani Burtsfield at Doing the Work That Matters
27 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
28 Jessica Big at TBD
29 Fran Haley at lit bits and pieces
30 Michelle Kogan at Michelle Kogan


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