As part of the Poetry Month celebrations over at Academy of American Poets, you can sign up to get a poem a day (selected from new books published this spring). I have to say, I'm not a big fan of the pill-box image for the Poem-A-Day page...I don't like to encourage the poetry-as-medicine (it's *good* for you!) metaphor, but that's a discussion for another day. :)
Pill-box aside, I enjoyed yesterday's poem by Liz Rosenberg. Also, check out 30 Ways to Celebrate Poetry Month.
Learning to Speak
by Liz Rosenberg
She was the quietest thing I'd ever seen.
It was so restful, being in her company
For hours, neither of us uttering a word.
I'd read the paper, look up, and she would smile,
Her lips half-pursed, just tucked up at the ends
As if holding a blithe secret.
When I fed her, she'd silently nod and smile,
Like immigrants you see
In train stations or in the movies,
She'd take the bowl from my hands
And nod again and smile again
And neither of us would say a word
From sunup to sunset.
When son and husband came home,
Both talking at once, both talking
With their mouths full,
My daughter and I could only look at them
With our dark quiet eyes.
Siddown, she says now.
I sit down
Without argument.
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