ANTICIPATORY PSALM 1

Even now, the hills frosted
like children's corn flakes,
summer's wild effusion waits
in the wings. As we walk
on eggshells past the nursery
the promise of a night's sleep
gleams just beyond our grasp.
Hidden in your babbling patter
are the words you can't yet speak.
All the seeds are curled tight
but I believe with a perfect faith
beneath the snow red tulips
are forming. Today plate glass
presses me like a dead flower
but three dimensions are coming.
I crown you with baby oil
and fold tomorrow after tomorrow
into your clenched fists.

This week's readwritepoem prompt is a word cloud, from which I chose the words frosted, eggshells, patter, red, crown. As I began working on this week's poem, my spiritual director suggested that I try writing psalms which work with the idea that the things we hope for are already present, so I brought that assignment to bear on the word cloud and this is what emerged.

This poem is another in my unfolding series of mother poems. The line "I believe with a perfect faith" is an allusion to the prayer Ani Ma'amin, which speaks of faith in the coming of the messianic era; the baby oil line is also a nod in that direction, since the word moshiach means "anointed one." Parenting a newborn definitely feels like a perennial leap of faith: faith that things will get better, that someday we'll get a good night's sleep again, that Drew will continue to develop and grow, that we're doing the right things, that someday our lives will feel normal again.

As always, you can read what other people wrote for this prompt by going to this week's Get Your Poem On post.

[psalm1.mp3]