(Laura Hope-Gill and Glenis Redmond, from Jeff Davis's Blog, Natures, naturespoetry.blogspot.com)
Laura and Glenis read the following poems at the Inaguration Day celebration held at UNC-Asheville a week ago.
CIRCLE OF EVERYTHING
In this moment there is everything to say.
In this moment there is nothing to say.
So let the poet speak, for the poet is carved
for moments like this equipped for sorrow and celebration,
for the poet gives the heart its mouth
blood to warm the hour.
This hour wants a poem, held in a song
fueled by the heat of wings,
something akin to flight, wrapped in grit
fashioned by the mouth of Goree.
Not to speak to the heart, but give the heart
life. Forget the high octave perfect pitch
give us Mahalia, Nina, Odetta, Miriam Makeba
or Fannie Lou’s sweat to complete the arc
of this moment, not just a beautiful thing
but a soulful moan that has everything in it,
a circle drawn with light and shadow delivering:
curse and prayer
cure and poison
heat and chill
root and branch
core and meat
drink and thirst
Geometry’s incantation that holds faint and swell.
Let the circle be drawn.
Let the circle be a raw voice
that pierces the rooftop of heaven
shakes the rafters and Gabriel’s hand
but also graces the ground beneath the feet
of the migrant worker igniting hope in each and every weary step.
Let the circle be a voice that suspends strong
wide, a woven bridge linked to the past
tied to the place King talked about:
the fierce urgency of now.
Let us see that all the soil has not been tilled
but with rake and shovel, hoe and axe
we can get beyond the surface
locate our circumference of we.
In this uncanny loop of hands and hearts
let us find the power from the realm of angels and ancestors
to blend our Oh Say Can You See
to our Lift Every Voice and Sing histories.
Let us embrace our complicated gorgeous mess of a country,
built upon Native American and slave massacres.
Let us excavate and examine our contradictions:
hold to the light the slave hands on white house slabs
see it not as a cornerstone but a circle
with everything in it.
Let us locate the moments
hope died in texas and tennessee
Let this day be an exorcism
to rid the bad spirits.
Let us be filled with a holy heat
Let Odetta, Nina, Miriam, Mahalia and Fannie Lou
sing to that roundness in our chest
gives us the courage to go with soul
find the music that makes us
the poemsong of our lives,
jarring and soothing
pumping with potential
not to wreck our world
with division but open
ourselves in a terrific circle
wide with holding
tender and fierce hearts
holding like this land
holding like the world
everything in it.
-------Glenis Redmond
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama dance at the Neighbourhood Ball in Washington DC. Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters
OLD
--for Michele and Barack Obama
He has grown into an old man,
Even older than Mandela did who also did
The remarkable thing simply by doing the only
Thing he could do. Be.
His hair is longer now, not fully gray.
It is as though he has stopped time the same way
Anyone who changes the course of history holds a power over time.
He stands tall, still,
Dressed, as always in his best
Because that is what his grand-mother taught him.
He remembers every single one
Of her lessons because she gave them in the
Soft language she knew could shape a man from the inside.
His wife is old now, too, and she
Still holds him to her every word and to his
Word and to the words of the world. She is his weaver
And he is her web. Their love forms
A constellation of stars all the places they walk. It lights the path.
Two presidencies down, they still talk mostly of their daughters who are
Grown and do not recall
A time when either a woman or a person with dark
Skin could not make a home of the White House or any other house
For that matter. The years
Have been good to them. The nation, grateful.
They have served and they continue to serve, traveling.
They always hold hands. They still have
That smile for each other they’ve kept going
Since college. It has been a good life for both of them.
They have lived a long time.
-------------Laura Hope-Gill
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