Friday, December 17, 2010

Poetry Friday: Song

I envision heaven in a selfish manner. I don't care which cloud you stick me on as long as I'm in possession of an honest-to-God, otherworldly singing voice. I've always felt broken because I can't keep a tune. What's in my head and my heart never matches up (not even a little) with what croaks out of my mouth. So being able to hang in there with the archangels is this tone-deaf girl's idea of being healed and whole.

In this season of using light to defend against darkness, music is one of our strongest weapons. I give you two examples: this poem, Song, which illuminates a lone singer, and the following video, which captures a flash mob of singers in a food court as they help the weary world rejoice.


Song
by Eamon Grennan

At her Junior High School graduation,
she sings alone
in front of the lot of us--

her voice soprano, surprising,
almost a woman's. It is
the Our Father in French,

the new language
making her strange, out there,
fully fledged and

read the rest here





Poetry Friday is hosted today at The Poem Farm.
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9 comments:

  1. madelyn12/17/10, 8:02 AM

    Lovely, Sara, and I so hear you on the singing thing.

    When I was a kid my mother told me I could be anything I wanted to be when I grew up. And then, when I was in maybe middle or high school, she amended it. "Well, except maybe a singer," she said.

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  2. Sara12/17/10, 8:10 AM

    Madelyn, a chorus teacher once complimented my feeble musical efforts by saying I had excellent diction.

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  3. Amy L V12/17/10, 8:52 AM

    What a beautiful and touching poem. It hits right in the mother place. My friend's daughter's chorus teacher saw this flash mob video, and they did one too...at our mall's food court! For more music, don't miss Kelly Fineman's post today - you will love the song! A.

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  4. Karen Edmisten 12/17/10, 8:56 AM

    That poem makes me ache.

    And I love that video.

    I, too, am of the Broken in Voice. I hope we'll be singing together in Heaven. :)

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  5. tanita✿davis12/17/10, 10:21 AM

    Sara.
    I will hold onto your name tomorrow at 1:30, as our choir flash mobs a group in a museum with this very same song.

    I hope you turn over in your sleep and suddenly have a happy dream.

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  6. Jules at 7-Imp12/17/10, 2:45 PM

    I don't know which is better, the poem or video. Okay, they're both stellar. But that poem got me good.

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  7. Diane Mayr12/18/10, 11:46 AM

    First the poem got me all verklempt, then I watched the video! Thanks for sharing these.

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  8. lindsey lane12/19/10, 9:08 AM

    Gorgeous.
    Simply gorgeous.
    Thank you, Sara.

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  9. Shelley12/27/10, 2:02 PM

    I also had one of those singing "flashes" posted for awhile on my story site.

    Remember that your capacity to delight in the music makes you one with it even if you can't sing.

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