I've been meaning to do this for the last _____________ (fill in the blank) amount of days and have forgotten. I shouldn't forget to be grateful.
Gratitude List
1) Blue skies and a newly-mowed lawn.
2) Tulips everywhere
3) Dreams about pinball machines with birds on them
4) Healthy family and friends
5) Fresh coffee in the morning
6) Mexican chocolate (why had no one told me about this?!)
7) Being told about Mexican chocolate.
8) My art class and figuring things out.
9) Writing in my shed
10) Paperback swap (have you heard about this? www.paperbackswap.com it's fantastic!)
11) The end of NaPoWriMo (though I'm a little sad about this)
12) 30 new "poems" to work on
13) That people didn't stop showing up to this blog in April
14) Openness, forgiveness, and compassion in others
15) Unexpected walks that lead to beaches
*
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Oh ya, the final poem of NaPoWriMo 2009 - welcome #30
For today's prompt, I want you to write a farewell poem. After all, we are saying farewell to another wonderful National Poetry Month. Say farewell to this month; say farewell to a vacation spot; say farewell to a bad relationship; say farewell to work; say farewell to school; say farewell to saying farewell even. Hopefully, I won't be saying farewell to you; please stay in touch and let me know of your successes as we keep poeming toward the horizon
Saying Goodbye
Because we’re leaving, some day
or tomorrow, because the month ends
or the writing stops, a kingfisher
on the telephone line and then it’s gone.
Say farewell to the heron, to the osprey,
the eagle circling the cove in search of
fish. Sometimes at night I can hear the train
across the water and I wonder who is leaving
and who starting new. It’s a prayer
to step out of bed every morning
knowing you may be the one receiving
the get well card or perhaps the one
signing her name. There is a dog that runs
through the neighborhood, in and out
of the barbed wire fence that keeps the horses in,
we hope he stays untangled; he’s impossible
to catch. Like the note that slips from my hand
in a quick breeze and that number I needed
to call is lost to the scotchbroom and the friend
who asked me to be there will stand alone
tonight wondering. Farewell to the new
beginning, to the reconnection, to the memories
that never will happen, a pre-emptive ending
of never having the second cup of coffee
across from the city with the mountain leaning in.
If farewells are to be lonely, let us meet
at dusk on the edge of a beach with the lighthouse
circling behind us and pause for a moment
to wonder if the fogbank is headed
for our neighborhood, if everything we have
will be covered with haze or realize
how many times we have watched the fog
cover us then ease into the sky, a few ghosts
passing and then everything above us is blue.
And good news for anyone who wants to write a poem a week, Robert will be posting prompts every Wednesday on his blog. The next one starting on May 6th
Thanks for tolerating my obsessions this April. I appreciate you for hanging on through the good poems and the bad.
xo
Saying Goodbye
Because we’re leaving, some day
or tomorrow, because the month ends
or the writing stops, a kingfisher
on the telephone line and then it’s gone.
Say farewell to the heron, to the osprey,
the eagle circling the cove in search of
fish. Sometimes at night I can hear the train
across the water and I wonder who is leaving
and who starting new. It’s a prayer
to step out of bed every morning
knowing you may be the one receiving
the get well card or perhaps the one
signing her name. There is a dog that runs
through the neighborhood, in and out
of the barbed wire fence that keeps the horses in,
we hope he stays untangled; he’s impossible
to catch. Like the note that slips from my hand
in a quick breeze and that number I needed
to call is lost to the scotchbroom and the friend
who asked me to be there will stand alone
tonight wondering. Farewell to the new
beginning, to the reconnection, to the memories
that never will happen, a pre-emptive ending
of never having the second cup of coffee
across from the city with the mountain leaning in.
If farewells are to be lonely, let us meet
at dusk on the edge of a beach with the lighthouse
circling behind us and pause for a moment
to wonder if the fogbank is headed
for our neighborhood, if everything we have
will be covered with haze or realize
how many times we have watched the fog
cover us then ease into the sky, a few ghosts
passing and then everything above us is blue.
And good news for anyone who wants to write a poem a week, Robert will be posting prompts every Wednesday on his blog. The next one starting on May 6th
Thanks for tolerating my obsessions this April. I appreciate you for hanging on through the good poems and the bad.
xo
