The Poem Returning as an Invisible Wren to the World

Once, there was a poem. No one read it & the poem
Grew wise. It grew wise & then it grew thin,
No one could see it perched on the woman's
Small shoulders as she went on working beside

The gray conveyer belt with the others.
No one saw the poem take the shape of a wren,
A wren you could look through like a window,
And see all the bitterness of the world

In the long line of shoulders & faces bending
Over the gleaming, machined parts that passed
Before them, the faces transformed by the grace
And ferocity of a wren, a wren you could look

Through, like a lens, to see them working there.
This is not about how she threw herself into the river,
For she didn't, nor is it about the way her breasts
Looked in moonlight, nor about moonlight at all.

This is about the surviving curve of the bridge
Where she listened to the river whispering to her,
When the wren flew off & left her there,
With the knowledge of it singing in her blood.

By which the wind avenges. By which the rain avenges.
By which even the limb of a dead tree leaning
Above the white, swirling mouth of an eddy
In the river that once ran beside the factory window

Where she once worked, shall be remembered
When the dead come back, & take their places
Beside her on the line, & the gray conveyor belt
Starts up with its raspy hum again. Like a heaven's.

Larry Levis

six things

...about my decision to start blogging again

1. I stopped blogging because, honestly, life got so crazy I didn't feel like I had time to sit down and write!
2. I even stopped reading blogs altogether.
3. I feel very torn about blogging, to tell the truth.
4. I want to maintain a sense of privacy for my children - not just for their physical safety, but because of a moral obligation I have as their mother.
5. That said, I do want to record some of our journey to becoming a family of five and some sweet little anecdotes so that I always remember the details.
6. Ultimately, I decided I need to blog because I miss writing.

coming soon