It’s hard. Not all of 2020 can be kneaded into grief-
shaped poems, most parts are so silent and so
alone – pages filled with punctuation marks that
have lost their words: forlorn ellipses going nowhere,
commas waiting between space and space and question
marks that know answers have been quarantined.
Not all of 2020 can be shaped into light, darkness
shifts in unexpected places, strange, defiant. On a mid-
November Diwali morning, in a year that broke in
March, I wonder what poetry is – anymore? Stepping six
feet away from a stranger, I look into his indifferent
eyes. I pretend he is smiling behind his cotton mask.
I like how your poem acknowledges that “not all of 2020 can be kneaded into grief-shaped poems” as well as the inability to shape all of the year into light. The poem speaks well of the liminality that has been 2020.
Thank you for the shout-out and participation in this conversation, Rajani. Questioning our writing, I believe is something we should do from time to time. But that’s a post for another day. 😊
Wishing you a light and love as you celebrate Diwali!❤️
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Thank you, Khaya. Was good to find inspiration this morning- hopefully one can get back into the zone again!
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Excellent. Yes.
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Thanks so much! Stay safe, wherever you are!
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“Pretending he is smiling behind his mask….” Masks do make me feel seperate from people, but also safer. Smiles. I think we poets are like the canaies in the cage – we sing the song of the earth’s journey. Someone else said poets can be a moral compass. I like those ideas. Even when it feels like we are singing into the wind, and the storm is raging, it feels better, somehow, to put words to it. Stay safe, Rajani.
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Thank you, Sherry. Wouldn’t it be nice, if we could all just sing the song of earth’s journey! Mask-life looks like it’s here to stay though!
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It is poetry that brings to life the breath of so many unspoken words. The world needs poets. The world needs you.
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Thank you for your kind words. I wish this testing time passes and the new year brings fresh thoughts and poetry with it.
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