Tupelo 28/30: Unsung Hero

Dear Reader, 

Two days remain. Two poems, four prompts. 

Friends, I woke at 4:30am to restart today's poem. And I spent hours thinking about it yesterday. My friend and fellow poet Shelley Cohen requested a poem with the title "Unsung Hero" that would be for her father, and my mother Annette DiGiorgio also requested a poem that would reflect the ways in which a parent might move to the periphery to help a chid thrive. The two themes seemed intimately connected in my own experience as mother and child. 

But good grief, after writing 37 poems (remember I had started early), no image/idea seems fresh. I've restarted this one poem a dozen times in the past 36 hours. During Syra's nap, I committed to finishing a draft.

Ideally, I think I'd like to push this poem further. See where it might go if I focus on the parent/child relationship and then return to the clematis again. I look forward to returning to many of these drafts to see where they might want to go. 

Here is an excerpt from "Unsung Hero" (read the full poem on Tupelo Press' 30/30 blog): 

"Even in the wild, the queen of vines needs full sun,
rich, loamy soil–the kind of dirt that’s soft as flour
but full of rot: dead leaves, lichens, earthworms.
Abundant underside feeding the bloom,
an unhailed wellspring of beauty–the parent
in the shadows while the child works the room."

Reader, thank you for reading my blog and following the poems on the Tupelo site. I am so grateful for your likes on Facebooks and your encouraging words there and via email.

There are two days left to donate. As I said before, if you have your heart set on sending me something, please do. And if I have already finished the last two poems, I will write you something separate. It just won't appear on the Tupelo blog. 

If you would like to donate to support my project, please see my first posting for incentive amounts and make your way to the Tupelo Press donation page. Be sure to select my name from the scroll down tab titled "Is this donation in honor of a 30/30 poet?" After you've donated, be sure to email (edigiorgio@gmail.com) or Facebook message me your requests. I don't want to miss your request!

Also, if you're enjoyed reading poetry this month, you might consider a subscription to Tupelo. You'll receive 9 books for $99, which is a steal! You can also *gift* this subscription to someone else (including me!)...I have friends and students who would be delighted to be the recipient. 

Yours in poetry,

Emari