Tupelo 30/30: We Need to Build Bridges Instead of Walls

Dear Reader, 

I'm here. At the end, which is just another beginning. 

Let me start by thanking you, again, for following the blog, reading the poems, and supporting me in word and with donation. I've learned so much about myself and my poetry in the past month. I've written 39 poems in 39 days. I've written when I was too tired or uninspired or terribly sad. I wrote when I had no words in my head. 

I've learned that I write best if I record an audio draft whatever idea/images/themes I'm considering. I don't self-censor when I'm talking to myself (even when neighbors see me chatting into my iPhone), and when I have a mass of text, I can find the best language/images and draft from there. 

I need that mass of text. I need to trust myself more. I needed this month to remember that I'm a *real* writer. The daily drafting made my art a tangible part of my life. I don't think I could have done this during the semester, at least not while I still have a toddler at home 4/7 days a week. And I am so grateful to Sundress Academy for the Arts and Rivendell Writers' Colony for offering me residencies during part of May and June. 

I have more to say about this experience, but I need time to process it. I think I've spent more than my share of words in the past 30 days. 

That said, I want to acknowledge the amazing poetry community I returned to in South Jersey. I facilitate the World Above reading series at Stockton University's Dante Hall in Atlantic City, NJ. Last night, we an exceptional reading: soulful. A word I rarely use. 

Despite all of the intolerance and violence in the world, our amazing community of wonderfully diverse people shared some of the most heart-felt poems I have ever witnessed. Our featured poet was Sham-e-Ali Nayeem, who shared her beautiful and sublime poems. The theater buzzed with a shared sense of love and loss. I feel so fortunate to call this writing community my poetry community. Thank you, friends. 

My final poem for the Tupelo 30/30 project is written in response to fellow SJ poet Belinda Manning's theme and a title donated by one of my favorite colleagues Francis Nzuki. It's a poem that thinks about how busy we are and how important it is to slow down and to connect, and how once we do this, we might find a greater purpose for our lives. 

Here is an excerpt from "We Need to Build Bridges Instead of Walls" (read the full poem on Tupelo Press' 30/30 blog): 

"Nobody’s innocent.

I, too, been running around like a mad woman,

which is to say I think I’m superhuman, which is say

I’m human. It wasn’t about eating the apple or tossing the core

into the compost pile. The body knows self-preservation best.

Will kick and thrash to rise to surface before it goes weak.

What if the conscious is the ghost of a girl drowned?

If we stay under long enough to listen we might not surface

the same. Sometimes when I sit still the thrushes forget I’m here

and will return to their song, the call and response

of their daily lives, because there are worms and mouths to feed." 

Reader, thank you for everything. I am so grateful for your support. 

I plan to offer a follow-up post and to share excerpts of drafts, publication news, and offer fun poetry news. 

Thank you for supporting me. You don't know how much I needed you.

Yours in poetry,

Emari