Read Write Prompt #106: repeat after me
December 24, 2009
NEWBORN SESTINA
I'm mesmerized by his form
even when he rouses me in the dark.
Nurse, burp, time for a change
then nurse again: it's all new,
this rhythm, his needs.
And for now, I'm his all:
source of milk, familiar sounds, all
the comforts of home. He forms
cries reedy and grizzled, need
which clenches my heart dark
and fearful. I never knew
my sense of God would change
but I see now that You are change
and these moments are holy, all
the ways he's always new.
Hard to believe his compact form
spent nine months in the dark
of my womb, every need
met. Me, I'm not sure what I need:
sleep, soothing, maybe a change
in perspective these dark
December days. For a time all
is well, but then I try to form
a sentence, an idea, something new
and my words trail off. The new
year will bring endless need
but I want to think we can form
a way through, a path to change
for everyone in this house, all
of us making our way in the dark.
Creator of light and dark,
every day You continually renew
the work of creation, all
the tiny miracles we need,
surprises and change.
Help my hands and heart to form
what these dark days need,
to embrace the new, meet change
with all the grace of this tiny form.
This week's prompt at ReadWritePoem is repeat after me, a prompt encouraging us to work with repetition. Life with a newborn has a certain repetitive quality to it, and as longtime readers know I'm a big fan of the sestina precisely because of its use of repetition, so this week I wrote a sestina in response to the RWP prompt. I'm not sure it's my finest work, but it feels good to be pushing myself to complete one draft of a poem each week, just to stay in the writing habit.
Once again, my apologies to RPW'ers -- I'm able to sneak the time it takes to work on one poem a week, and to more-or-less keep up with email (sometimes), but I don't have enough free time to be reading many blogs or to be keeping up with y'all's responses to these prompts. Please know that I appreciate your comments here tremendously, and I look forward to someday having more space in my life for reading your poetry again!
(Anyone who's interested can see how others responded to this prompt by visiting this week's get your poem on post.)