This Poem is a Palm Tree
You may say this is no poem,*
but you do not know a poem
like I know a poem—
especially this poem.
This poem is a palm tree,
fronds slapping in the wind,
singing the pine song
that circles around us,
a chorus for an April day
in this windy spring of 2024.
The last time the wind
was relentless from the river,
it heralded a pandemic—nothing
could withstand the force
of those winds—chanting to me
in their swiftness. I am the winds
of change; I am the winds of change.
And so they were. And today
as winds circled around me, I knew
the palm tree tall above me was my poem.
Her fronds said words that spoke to me.
Wind woman said, my friend I am here
this time to give you strength. The palm
sang verses to remind me she
with roughened & layered bark
can & will withstand the relentless wind—
until one moment, it dies down
and all is calm.
You may say this is no poem
but the palm tree spoke
& it became a poem in my hand.
Jacquelyn Markham (4/24/2024)
* (the first line from “May 1943” by H. D., Collected Poems, 1912-1944. p. 492)
The Prompt:
“Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem that begins with a line from another poem (not necessarily the first one), but then goes elsewhere with it. This will work best if you just start with a line of poetry you remember, but without looking up the whole original poem. Or you could find a poem that you haven’t read before and then use a line that interests you. The idea is for the original to furnish the backdrop for your work, but without influencing you so much that you feel as if you are just rewriting the original!” (Napowrimo.net)
Poet Voice 