Poem from the MVICW Conference

 

Today is the first day of the Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing Writers' Conference. I thought it would be fun to share the works I create during this week. These works may be revised after the conference is over.

"This is a Moment"

This is a moment

    The one between the lighting strike

    And the thunder

Like children counting Mississippies

    To know when to cower

    In fear of the storm

The window panes

    Rattling the historical pain

    Of every tornado

    That touched down in our fields

    Of dreams

Tearing up the newly planted crops of stories and poems

    That could one day feed the souls of this Earth

This is a moment

    Filled with backward steps

    Mental debates

    Like standing on the high dive in June

Your dad watching

Your mom’s hand resting on his shoulder

The water looks so far away

    And the teenagers are getting angry

    At the bottom of the ladder

This is the moment

    This is the sentence

    This is the word

    That allows us to crawl out of the covers

        To play in the rain 

        12 feet above everyone