Little Reviews: Poem for Tuesday and Renfaire Fun

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Poem for Tuesday and Renfaire Fun

Big Bend National Park Says No to All Walls
By Naomi Shihab Nye

Big Bend has been here, been here. Shouldn’t it have a say?
Call the mountains a wall if you must, (the river has never been a wall),
leavened air soaking equally into all, could this be the home
we ache for? Silent light bathing cliff faces, dunes altering
in darkness, stones speaking low to one another, border secrets,
notes so rooted you may never be lonely the same ways again.
Big bend in thinking—why did you dream you needed so much?
Water, one small pack. Once I lay on my back on a concrete table
the whole day and read a book. A whole book, and it was long.
The day I continue to feast on.
Stones sifting a gospel of patience and dust,
no one exalted beyond a perfect parched cliff,
no one waiting for anything you do or don’t do.
Santa Elena, South Rim, once a woman knew what everything here
was named for, Hallie Stillwell brimming with stories,
her hat still snaps in the wind. You will not find
a prime minister in Big Bend, a president, or even a candidate,
beyond the lion, the javelina, the eagle lighting on its nest.

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This was today's Poem-A-Day at Poets.org.

Monday was all about chores -- getting Maddy to school (they are letting her take a two-week leave of absence), stopping at AC Moore for a box for the hat I got at the Renfaire yesterday that I'm getting for my birthday, going to the food store, folding a massive amount of laundry while catching up on Sunday's Westworld and Madam Secretary.

We took Maddy to the mall after school so she could look for a dress for the funeral and stopped at CVS with her; eventually we all had ravioli for National Pasta Day and watched Supergirl, which had some good stuff but the cast changes make me very sad. Timeless was okay this week but needs more women not famous because of famous men. From the Renfaire: