While I have not been a victim personally, a poet made me feel the bruises, and this is the
prayer I wrote in response.
As a Quaker, I am
constantly trying to make sense of violence and find a way through it without
becoming violent myself. “Done-in-Woods“ is an allusion to Shakespeare’s
Macbeth when his Nemesis marches near. Here I ask God, what place poetry has in this struggle.
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| Painting by KImberly Dow |
Love of God
Dear God,
I honor your world to honor you in
every bud and inch of its teaming
Even cat paw on ant, Bambi every
time, Monty Python-esque, no joke.
Dear God,
I would honor your purpose, too,
to honor you, if I could--show it me
On the same Way you branch out for
me, among the uncut grasses.
Dear God,
I look for it in these outpourings
of my cistern mind, even in acid rain
Gathered for the revenge of the
trees, as Done-in Woods marches near.
Dear God,
I see you in all you create, in
the rain, acid, march, woods, trees, branch,
Grasses, mammals, insects, and
comedians--nothing alliterates, nothing.
Dear God,
Are you looking for the answers,
too, in poets' bleeding and begging lines
Have you made me, too, and why is
the what you would have me do?
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| 'Charity' Painting by Kimberly Dow |
Susan Chast is a
lifelong teacher concerned with the growth of inquiry and
imagination. Her poetry carries the conviction of her Quaker faith,
peace activist past, feminist performance art and love of literature. She is retired from the classroom where
she taught high school English and creative writing, and, in a former life,
acting, stage directing and multicultural theatre history and performance. She began writing full-time as a
participant in National Poetry Writing Month 2012, when she also established
her blogs Susan’s Poetry and Susan,
continued …. She is working on a novel, Alice in Wonder.
~If you are interested in seeing your poetry appear in this blog, or submitting a poem by a woman that has inspired you, please click here for submission guidelines. I greatly look forward to hearing from you!~
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