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A Prayer for the Sequestered

At times like these poetry can propel us to look at our experience in a whole new light. Here is Carol Flake Chapman tribute to all of us cooped up and confused. Plus other essential poems for today's world.

May your home become a hermitage

of quiet contemplation

As though you were out in the desert

seeking the light in solitude

Or may it become a hothouse

of tomatoes and ideas

Unaccustomed to such attention

May your four walls enclose you

With safety and then vanish

As you look out onto the trees

Filled with birds that sing

And flaunt their freedom

May you cherish your souvenirs

Of travel to exotic places

And dream of returning

May you savor the abundance

Of pantries filled with soups

And dried pasta awaiting sauces

May you remember the words

To the songs you danced to

and find your feet dancing again

May you remember your mom

or maybe your dad confined

to a bed or wheelchair

who you thought were

bounded like Hamlet

in a nutshell but counted

themselves kings and queens

of infinite space

May you say this over and over:

home is where the heart is and

the earth is still our home

Read More: Meet the Author behind the “Anonymous” I Want to Age Like Sea Glass Poem

A Time for Poetry

Poetry may be the best form for capturing the surge of complex emotions as we navigate through these unprecedented times. (How many times in the past few weeks have you heard that word “unprecedented”?) May we suggest a few other poems that express the tenor of our times.

The first two were written by NextTribe-aged women specifically about our current crisis, offering real-time perspectives that are so mature and deep, you might think they’d fermented for years.

March the Ninth Twenty Twenty by the Italian writer Mariangela Gualtieri.

Pandemic by Lynn Ungar, from San Franciso.

And why not pull out a classic in this time of need, one that seems tailor-made for what we’re enduring now:

Keeping Quiet by the great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.

 

 

By Carol Flake

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