POETRY FRIDAY

WELCOME!
Poetry Friday is here this week!
Here in Colorado!
Where we get to look
at the mountains
every single day.
(This one is Pikes Peak,
framed by Garden of the Gods)
Sometimes I forget
that everyone doesn't
get to open their eyes
to this every morning…
Come visit!

A couple of months ago,
I came across Jayne Jaudon Ferrer's "Your Daily Poem"
I've subscribed to lots of these kinds of websites
And to be really honest,
Usually I follow them for a month or two,
And then discontinue my subscription.
The poems are too long
or too obtuse
or too hard for me
to understand.
(I'm a simple gal, a single mom, with a job, and two teenage boys,
and two badly behaved labs and I don't have time for hard poetry).

But this site is different.
I love these poems
and the little note that comes with them.
I open the email pretty much every day.
I read them,
And savor them,
And give them to my friends.

This week, Jayne sent
"Prayer Chain" by Tim Nolan.
I loved it.
(It kind of reminds me of my all time
most favorite ever poems
Marge Piercy's "To Be of Use."
Lots of people know that poem.
So I won't share it today.
But in case you don't
You can read it here).

I love "Prayer Chain"
almost as much as "To Be of Use"
So I'm sharing part of it,
a couple of lines from the beginning,
and a couple from the middle,
and a couple from the end.
I especially love the end
(probably because my sons
play football
and are learning how to drive
and have girlfriends
and the older they get
the scarier the parenting
and the more I pray).
***************************************

Prayer Chain

My mother called to tell me
about an old classmate of mine who

was dying on the parish prayer chain--
or was very sick-- or destitute…

all the old mothers were praying intensely
for all the pain of their children…

I bet they have been praying for me at times--
so I'll find my way-- so I won't rob a bank

I'll take them-- the mystical prayers of old mothers--
it matters-- all this patient and purposeful love.

Tim Nolan
From The Sound of It (New Rivers Press, 2008).
This poem first appeared on The Writer's Almanac.

Enjoy this little bit then read the whole poem here.

Leave your link as a comment and I'll round them up throughout the day!