Rehoboth writers guild creates community-sourced poem
In honor of National Poetry Month, Rehoboth Beach Writers Guild members created a community-sourced poem, known as a “cento.”
Writers were instructed to submit 20 words or fewer using the theme of “Today…” Guild member and poet Irene Fick studied all submitted lines and turned them into the poem below. The 27 contributing writers are listed at the end of the piece. Guild member and artist Faith Lord contributed one of her original works of art, “Marsh Sunset,” to accompany the poem.
RBWG Executive Director Maribeth Fischer said, “When we started this project just a few weeks ago, we had no idea what the final piece would be. We are thrilled with the outcome: a poem so beautiful, so coherent, so moving...a creative result from our community of writers.”
Rehoboth Beach Writers Guild is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. For more information, visit rehobothbeachwritersguild.com.
“Hiding/Coming Out of Hiding”
By Rehoboth Beach Writers Guild Members
Edited and Arranged by Irene Fick
I. March 2020
Today, the sun is setting upon all
I had planned. Like a ghost, I wander
through town, see no one. I pass
the Lewes Bake Shoppe, so many
places we once gathered. Closed.
For how long? Everything dead.
I feel like a vulture as I pry
open the crispy head of fried fish
to pick apart the bones, suck
the juicy eyes. At the food pantry,
a man cried when I gave him beans,
cereal, bread, said it was the first time
he’d asked for food. His words buzzed
around me like locusts. Today, my
journal pages are worn and tired
like heels on shoes that never quite fit.
I am out of sorts with my scratching
pen. I write such nonsense: to do oat
toy ya day to at yod day. I am lost
in a haze of words, a suffocating fog.
In the deserted park, even the dog
ignores my come here pleas. Hard times.
Seasons sneak by us. All year long, I move
clothes in and out of storage: winter
to summer, summer to winter, summer
again. I want to come out of hiding.
Today, I face the unknown, the white space,
the breath between lines, the silent longing
that lurks within, the lonely hiss of memory.
II. April 2021
Day’s curtain call. Before it falls, I hold
my love, lift up the hours with kind words
that sway in the wind. I emerge, shop
the crowded aisles for food, first time
in a year, vaccinated at last. Driving home,
I pull the car over, weep. Today is a line
cast into murky water. I will take all
that luck offers. Tomorrow, I will be new,
dress up, beautify my nails. Strawberry
margarita is the color I will choose
to carry me from winter to spring, to fix
my naked fingers, locked-up toes. Today
I will soar with eagles, lie down with lions.
(But first, I must get out of bed.) Today,
I will live a little, die a little. Tiny points
of worry try to worm through my psyche,
but today, I pray they don’t poke through.
Today, I will coax the corners of my lips
to curve upward. Today, the earth comes
alive around me. I am slowly shedding
my cocoon. The dawn is inky, orangey
and the palms stand in blackest silhouette.
All shimmer in the pond. Soft reflection. Today,
I watched a robin by my window, perched
high in a tree. Later, I faced a bluebird.
Two cardinals settled on a small branch, greeted
me through the window with a kiss. They lifted
my spirit. I wanted to join them all in flight.
As I walked along a wooded path, a yellow warbler
greeted me. Sunlight suffused my heart. I saw
red knots and empty shells: new life at last.
Today, I want to plant: peas and beans and mint
for mojitos. My feet on solid ground.
Today, I am grateful for life: friends, home,
the arts, nature, humor, freedom, good over evil.
I am blessed with a brain that still works, loving
family, loyal friends.
Today, at long last, the earth is coming alive.
Contributing writers: Diane Albanese, Patty Bennett, Kim Burnett, Judy Catterton, Gail Comorat, Steve Conley, Deanne Coolidge, Walt Curran (who submitted lines from Liz Dolan and Fleda Brown), Ann Cyr, Zita Dresner, Irene Fick, Robert Fleming, Carole Guerard, Cynthia Hall, Paul P. McFarlane, Elaine Oakes, Rich Parfitt, Molly Pauker, Maureen Rouhi, Willie Schatz, Karen Schneiderman, Elise Seyfried, Leslie Slan, Mary Ellen South, Nancy Walker, Judy N. Wood and Sharon Wright.
