Saturday, May 01, 2010


I penned my final poem of April last night, and felt a combination of relief and sadness. Relief that my days could now turn back to PURE and concentrating on finishing that novel, and sadness because I'll miss the liberation of knowing my prescribed daily writing task (yes, it is liberating to have someone tell me what to do every now and then).

BUT... poetry's not going away just because April showers bring May flowers. Nope. you see, a group of us played poetry daisy chain, yielding eight collaborative poems. I'll be introducing you to the poems -- and the authors who originated each one -- in the coming weeks. These writers -- Michael Solender, Laurita Miller, Mark Kerstetter, Paige von Lieber, Tony Noland, Doug Mathewson, and Robin Stratton -- pen poetry and prose, and when you read their stories and poems, you can see the influence of each genre on the other. Paige wrote a poem to honor the Poetry Chain Gang.

Out this week ===> 6S:V3, featuring some of the finest six sentence writers and edited by the excellent Lydia Davis.



EXHALE

You say
follow the breath
so I do
and listen to your mantra
mild, measured

on the inhale
guts, liver, lungs
float, oxygenated
cushions, and relax me
into the moment
the now
the be

but as my stomach
hollows on the exhale
air clutches somewhere
higher, afraid on the
outtake
to be.



Prompt: letting go


Peace, Linda

5 comments:

  1. my last (30th poem) woke me up at 4 am this morning, demanding to be written as it had a journey go on.

    happy weekend :-)

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  2. Congrats on making it through the thirty days. I enjoyed reading your poems every evening, but I am looking forward to reading more PURE as well.

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  3. Congrats on making it through the month.

    I thoroughly enjoyed your poems, Linda...

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  4. The last few lines are so telling:

    "...afraid on the
    outtake
    to be."

    Fear cripples us, right down to our breath.

    Jai

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  5. What a poem to finish to the month.

    This poem is almost an exhale of relief..almost. That last stanza holds a slight anxiety.

    Even your poetry is able to capture dramatic - which is why we love your fiction so much.

    Beautiful work this month and I look forward to your poetry chain of poets.

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