Here. Day 3/7 Big Tent Poetry Gong

The poem that inspired this poem was actually very, VERY different and my first attempts at drafting a poem were very different than what I eventually decided to throw on the page, more than slightly frustrated. The "new to me"  poem and poet I found was First Gestures by Julia Spicher Kasdorf.

She is a poet I will revisit. We have much in common, including being both mothers and poets.

The first two lines of "Here" open the second stanza of her poem.

HERE

Living, we cover vast territories;
imagine your life drawn on a map--
I never imagined it would stop.
Here. My children born.
Here.

My life  force, my spark doesn't fit in
Here. (But it comes close enough so
I stay)
Here.

I returned
Here.
While she stayed
to be educated. There.
I plug myself in.
Here.

Unknowns the unanswered hows. There.
glue my map shut. Here.  paste smeared
on the creases between this highway
and that landmark I find myself
Still here.

My life drawn on a map.
Still.
Here.

Comments

[carolee]

i like how it always comes back to "here." and since you start us with a drawn map, it gives me a visual, like someone pointing to a dot on the map.