Recently, David, of The Skeptic’s Kaddish launched an initiative called, Poetry Partners. It is an amazing initiative, which invites poets to submit a poem, and then David writes a response poem. I contemplated a poem to send to David for some time, and then finally did about a month ago.
Here is the poem I sent to David.
a lining of silver
I sit atop a tower, looking down
at the flowers briar,
calling to me at all hours
it is
beauty
seen
in
the myriad contours and folds of life’s road —
gold
and shining in the afternoon sun,
watching from afar,
they run
frolicking in nature’s bounty, like slivers
of dust, the night away,
they wash
as the
clouds hang
onto the love
they feel within
gathering
up our tears, a lining of silver
remains
thin
delivering back the tears collected,
delight spreads across the
land
as our tears seed
hope and love
inside
the
flowers briar once again
Now, here is David’s poem in response to my poem.
A crystalline by ben Alexander of ‘The Skeptic’s Kaddish’
An arrogant little man looked
out upon glowing sunflower fields.
If their lovely soul wouldn’t bow,
he’d simply be forced to Dehull her.
“Forward! Bring that fucking bitch to me!”
Soldiers marched, tanks rolled; rockets flew.
But the flowers resisted and stood
tall against the might of his troops.
‘Grind them down!’ he shouted, enraged,
‘Press forward! We shall Extract our price!’
Tears flowed forth from the flowers, but
they would not succumb to the Crude man.
Then, as though born of silver tears,
a Refined lady rose from their midst.
The train of her golden gown trailed
behind her, as she strode through the fields.
Thick clouds, hanging onto the love
they felt within, gathered up the tears.
“True hope,” the gentlewoman declared,
“shan’t be defeated by hubris.”
Deliberately, she stepped forward,
unfazed by the bullets, and beamed.
Thank you again to David for partnering with me on this amazing collaboration. What fun!
Photo associated with a lining of silver by Layers, Pixabay
Shadowlight Words 