Sunday, November 13, 2016

Lucy Alexander # 70 We Do Language

‘This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.’ Toni Morrison


We do language.
We find ourselves full of it,
words fall trembling and naked
vernix waxing them
they will digest their own brown fat
suck at the milky world
and grow.

The children watched me cry,
they were loud in the morning
their hands on my shaking back
all questions, all frowns
interruptions.

We do language
we do breathing
loving, birthing.


You, children
take the space of fear

fill the morning with your voices.

8 comments:

  1. :) Your words and your children take the space of fear - well put, Lucy.

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    1. Thanks Efi, this was a hard poem. Your comment means a lot!

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  2. Beautiful poem. Why is the second verse in the past tense?

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    1. Thanks Myron, I'm not sure exactly about the past tense - maybe because when the Trumpet news first broke, there did seem to be room for fear and despair?

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  3. Beautiful, Lucy. Thank you. I cried during and after the debates. Felt shut down after the result. Keep healing us with your words, dear Lucy.

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  4. Yes, Lucy. Please keep writing like that! :)

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  5. Thanks Lucy, this is so strong and lovely

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