A Gathering of Poetry | 8.15.24
Poetry has been a balm these days… and I have been reading more poetry than I usually do. Yet on Monday when I realized that this week was poetry round up week…well it was a bit of a surprise! And despite the volumes of poetry I have been immersed in I spent a few moments in angst about what I should share!
But on Tuesday I stumbled into a poem by Barbara Crooker in Poetry of Presence II… and the angst faded… this is poem I need to share today! (Thank you, dear Barbara!)
So here is my selection… I hope you find something delightful in it!
Queens
by Barbara Crooker
We are all just walking each other home.
— Ram Dass
I hadn’t taken the subway in fifty years, not since
I was an undergraduate, and I was nervous.
Back then, it was hard to navigate, as graffiti and peace
signs covered up the maps. But a friend from Queens
wanted to meet for lunch, so I took a deep breath
and set out, clutching the email she’d sent with directions.
Of course, now the maps are electronic, not readily
broken, and easy to read. But her station was confusing,
a maze of underground passages, and she’d warned me
I’d have to walk some distance if I went up the wrong
stairs. So I stood there, trying to align her text, match
her words to the nearby stores. An elderly East Asian
woman asked, You lost? She snatched the papers
from my hand. Okay. Follow me. Wielding her cane
like a weapon, she pushed pedestrians out of the way,
held it up like a banner as we crossed against the light
She pointed out the “good” fruit stands, wagged her fingers
at the “bad” ones, ignored the storefronts with elaborate
gold jewelry. She was my Italian grandmother, in a different skin.
When we reached my destination, she gave me back my papers.
Turn here. Friend lives there. And when I turned to thank her,
she was gone. Above, in the stunted city trees: the wind through
the leaves, the sound of rustling wings.
Queens. Copyright © 2021 by Barbara Crooker. First published in I-70 Review.
And that is it for me this week, see you all back here on Monday!
Make sure you stop and see what other poems Bonny is gathering today!
