Archive for month: July, 2012
What if we rose with the sun and sang each morning,
Sticking our heads through windows or chasing after
Creeks in our nightclothes? What if we rummaged
For our breakfasts under layers of decay? What if
We turned our faces to the sun? What if we ate
Sunlight and drank rainwater? What if our bodies grew
Down into the earth, clutching the soil in our twining toes,
Binding us to one place? What if we lived centuries,
Each year stretching the miles of lives
Underneath our canopy? What if we lived silently?
What if we bloomed pink and purple, yellow or orange
When we got what we needed? What if we
Passed winter curled underground with our families
And our stores of fat and food? What if we scurried
Through life on an endless quest for berries,
Mushrooms, and grubs? What if we were the grubs?
© 2012 Elizabeth Ehrenfest Steinglass, all rights reserved
Last Friday Ruth at There Is No Such Thing as a God-Forsaken Town shared Mary Oliver’s poem How Would You Live Then? I was so taken by the form of the poem with its repeating “what if” questions I wanted to give it a try. As you can see my questions took me in a different direction.
For more Poetry Friday, go to A Teaching Life.
For Sale, Fixer-Upper by Orin Zebest at flickr
I wear this house
Like my favorite t-shirt,
The one you dig through the drawer for,
The one gone soft with wearings and washings,
The one you long to put on
On Saturdays
When you just want to be
Yourself.
It used to be my favorite color blue,
Like the ocean in the sun at noon.
It’s faded now,
Ragged around the collar,
Dribbled with little kid ice creams and
Either it’s shrunk or I’ve grown
Because it feels tight when I stretch.
But I don’t care
Because this t-shirt is my home.
How can you ask me
To give it up
And find another?
© 2012 Elizabeth Ehrenfest Steinglass, all rights reserved
© 2012 Elizabeth Ehrenfest Steinglass, all rights reserved
- Happy Poetry Friday!December 12, 2019 - 6:00 pm
- ProcessFebruary 25, 2016 - 11:22 pm
- Back from Poetry Camp!October 6, 2016 - 7:49 pm
- The Poetry Friday Party is Here!May 2, 2013 - 9:19 pm
- Health, Peace, JoyDecember 25, 2020 - 7:50 am
- I am Winter’s MeadowDecember 10, 2020 - 7:39 pm
- ThanksgivingNovember 27, 2020 - 7:44 am
- It’s Hard to ListenNovember 6, 2020 - 8:17 am
- Snowfog is the perfect word and this poem is just all-around...December 27, 2020 - 8:50 am by Liz Garton Scanlon
- So beautiful, Liz. Love the haiku and the sense of peace...December 26, 2020 - 11:36 am by Michelle Barnes
- Beautiful, Liz, in every way.December 26, 2020 - 10:14 am by Laura Purdie Salas
- This year I have wished for some blending of the before...December 26, 2020 - 8:37 am by Linda Baie