FIRST FRIDAY POETRY APRIL 2024

I'm joining Beverly A Baird & Linda Schueler in a "year long poetry practice – on the first Friday of each Month," when we, and anyone else who joins, writes a poem and pairs it up with a photo relating to it.

On Monday, April 1st, my husband and I celebrated our 47th wedding anniversary. He claims, and I agree, that it hasn't been nearly long enough. 

This got me to thinking about love poems. When I was young, e. e. cummings' somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond used to be my favourite. His [i carry your heart with me(i carry it in] helped me get through the deaths of both my parents.

I've been reading a lot of Mary Oliver recently. Her poems are full of loving the world. Of Love is as close to a love poem as I have found so far. 

Decade by Amy Lowell resonates most for me at this time in our lives: 

When you came, you were like red wine and honey,
And the taste of you burnt my mouth with its sweetness.
Now you are like morning bread,
Smooth and pleasant.
I hardly taste you at all for I know your savour,
But I am completely nourished.

Anyway, I decided to write a love poem. The last line is a nod to Mary Oliver. Here it is:

love’s 

complicated 

comfort

ferries us into

these last years of our lives

the roller coaster 

of ups and downs

has mostly evened out

we manage better

when it dips, 

and when it ascends,

gratitude blooms

we are still here

living our one precious life 

together