Poems of Gratitude

It’s Poetry Friday and it’s being hosted by Tanita S. Davis at fiction, instead of lies. Thank you, Tanita! On her December 3rd blog post, you can sign up for the “New Year’s Poetry Challenge.” Check it out!

Though my work has been published in Highlights for Children and other magazines, I thought I would share my poem, First Responder, which was included in THANKU: POEMS OF GRATITUDE, edited by Miranda Paul. The illustrations by Marlena Myles are stunning. The thirty two poems by diverse and talented poets, such as Naomi Shihab Nye, Charles Waters, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and RenĂ©e LaTulippe, to name just a few, are written in a different form. I knew what a tanka and a found poem was, but a fibonacci poem was new to me, as were others, and each form is clearly described. It’s a useful resource for students of poetry.

The poem I wrote is an hyperbole. I began this poem at a Highlights poetry workshop as a prompt by Rebecca Kai Dotlich and Georgia Heard. They are great and kind teachers. In my poem, “First Responder,” I exaggerated and elevated the purpose of an every day, ordinary, object:

FIRST RESPONDER

Like an ambulance on my desk,
waiting to fix a torn page
or a broken book.

At my service,
armored helper,
cradling a bold, circular
heart, ready
for any emergency,
holding still

for the yank
and the quick rip
of a smooth piece that will
save a poem, a story,
or an injured photograph.

You park nearby
ready to
help again.

Thank you for the opportunity to share it. It feels fitting to be grateful for this book about gratitude.