Poems just feel good. To write and read, to give and receive. I asked friends if they would like to receive a poem written by me. I wondered, what fills you? What do you want/need? What gets in the way? What do you do in order to get what you want/need? What inspires you? I decided to cultivate poetry through their stories, and extend an offer of poems to as many people as find them healing, helpful, joyful or any other emotion they need the to feel. I hope you enjoy them too. These are the first two, with great thanks to the women who shared their stories.
Patience
At a crossroads
criss cross like the woven bands
of my banana basket,
curved and stitched together
after a year of waiting
drying
bending
watching
I forage my future
in these months,
searching for seeds
red leaves
yet to push through the soil.
I’m here…waiting.
She is not ready yet
el choco red
a slow grower
She is worth the wait.
I move through
the twang in my heart,
ready to show
what I have made
of this patience
Courage
The flesh of my feet
Sink into the clover
I stare at a rainbow of petals
Then squeeze a flower softly.
Its mouth opens to tell about
How you held my finger,
your tiny hand gripping
Like a bud ready to bloom
I trace the rosettes
Planted in a heart shape
And imagine the beat of yours
As my fingers tap against
the stone. We are one,
Courage, I whisper to you,
Speckled in my mind
Like sweet and sour
Like the ticks in an hour
Three years and I am starting to heal
Finally coming out the other side
I make a bouquet of zinnias,
petunias and snapdragons.
Tears roll into the creases
of my slight smile.
Bursts of color like you
always restore me.
No matter what happens,
you are always
with me,
Courage
These poems are part of the Cultivating Poetry Project, in which I write for those who need poems for many reasons in their lives, including those in parenthood, grief and loss, chronic pain and fatigue, and those in need of a change or healing.
All poems and images are the property of the poet, Sharon Frances.
Do not use in part or whole without permission.