This is my first venture into using the Golden Shovel poetry form. I borrow the final lines from Mary Oliver’s poem, The Journey, to end the lines of my poem, called Dear Rescuer. I share them both with you here.
The Journey
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice–
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do–
determined to save
the only life you could save.
– Mary Oliver
Dear Rescuer
You need to feel pure, determined
To be seen as good, to
Work diligently to save
The vast troubled world. The
Global catastrophe only
Revealed that you built your life
Evading uncomfortable truths. If you
Choose to remove the rose-colored glass, it could
Show you the world is not yours to save.
– Monica Biswas
1 Comment
What a cool way to weave two poems together! Almost a call and response. Lovely! Thank you for sharing that. How are you, Monica? Your poems brighten my mornings! Busy bees our crew defaults to and it’s starting to rub my soul again. Love to you ❤️ Sarah
On Fri, Nov 16, 2018 at 09:10 Accidental Perfectionist wrote:
> accidentalperfectionist posted: “This is my first venture into using the > Golden Shovel poetry form. I borrow the final lines from Mary Oliver’s > poem, The Journey, to end the lines of my poem, called Dear Rescuer. I > share them both with you here. The Journey One day you finally knew ” >