We're kicking off the summer season with a Poetry Potluck. At first, it was any topic, any form, but then we thought it would be fun to theme our challenge around real life potluck contributions. (For a quick history of the potluck in America, including "The Church Lady Law," see this article.)
My inspiration came from a book of poetry, and a bag of chips. For my birthday, my dad gifted me the fantastic collection, A Century of Poetry in the New Yorker, and I've been dipping into it whenever I need a poetry fix.
It shouldn't amaze me any more, but I'm still stunned when the act of reading a poem can change my day. Even if the poem at first seems simple on the page. Maybe, especially then....I'm not resisting it, or studying it, or trying to make it be something it isn't....I'm simply munching on the words.
I wrote my poem about that.
her poem
is like a bag
of chips at a potluck—
you want to scoff
at the lack of effort—
who does she think she is,
a college kid with no kitchen?
but somehow her poem—
bagged like a plump, slightly creased pillow
and tossed on the hard bench of the table
is effortlessly inviting—and
when it pops open
(before any other dish has been
stripped of its foil shield)
you pinch out the ridged wafers
in two clumps to snack on —
you know, just until the late-comers
with their farro-gorgonzola croquettes
arrive—
and her words become
the friend everyone wants
to sit next to—
the one who can champion
marshmallows in salad,
and dissect the day he died,
both with humility;
who can discuss two-letter Scrabble words
and cry-choking in the car
each with authority;
who speaks of the soaking rain yesterday
and of burnt faith today
as one and same—
of necessary anger
and ridiculous love,
each invited to this potluck—
as she passes you the bag
of chips, rolling down the corners
so you can reach in, deeply—
even as the salt
of her meaning
stings your chapped lips,
she is feeding you.
this is not luck
this is poetry.
----Sara Lewis Holmes (all rights reserved)
More poetry dishes from my Poetry Sisters (who are all friends everyone wants to sit next to):
Laura
Poetry Friday is hosted today by our own Mary Lee Hahn at A Year of Reading.
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