if you can make a poem today I will read it
By Valerie Sonnenthal
perhaps it’s like making the bed
needing to care all is pulled tight
clear corners edges sharp
despite soft layers of summer quilts
Pakistani blankets that crossed the Hindu Kush
words squeeze themselves into air
a mind distracted notices shadows
while words continue to escape
a friend’s family made it to Kabul
and may die trying to get to the airport
prayers are like poems, some unwritten
hushed like breath, when that is the last freedom
you have, maybe the poem does not matter
maybe making the poem is an act
that can save your life or just your soul
or end it, words having the power
to transport, to recognize the living
to be erased, forgotten as so many
are disappeared, a fate worse than any poem
can you make a poem today
Valerie Sonnenthal washed ashore in 2005, contributes to The MV Times, is a member of the Cleaveland House Poets, and owns Peaked Hill Studio, offering Sound Healing and Kaiut Yoga. She lives year-round in Chilmark with her family and beloved dogs.
Poets with a connection to Martha’s Vineyard are encouraged to submit poems to Poet’s Corner curator Laura Roosevelt at ldroosevelt@gmail.com.
