In response to the prompt from Poets & Storytellers to write a personal message to the rest of humanity, the thing you'd most like to communicate, this collaborative poem does as good a job as any I could relay on my own.
THE BURNT HAND
smoke shrouded Quebec
singing sparrow doesn't sense (yvonne)
her demise is near
burgers hissing on iron
dad wipes his watering eyes (david)
sleeves rolled elbows bowed
she reclaims her patch of green (yvonne)
from desert's burnt hand
cracks in the sidewalks
dandelions pushing through (david)
before getting sprayed
cut logs piled precision high
stumps remember touching sky (yvonne)
Amazon clearing
gaps widen in canopy (david)
wingbeats fade away
The rengay is a form of linked verse consisting of six thematic verses collaborated by two or three poets with alternating 3 and 2-sentence stanzas. For The Burnt Hand I collaborated with David Bogomolny at The Skeptic's Kaddish. It was his suggestion and encouragement that birthed this poem. See more, explanation and history behind the form Here!
14 comments:
What a wonderful collaboration! I feel sad for the singing sparrow, so emblematic of the effects of cutting down the world's forests.
The collaboration resulted in a powerful weaving of images of a devastating reality
Lovely collaboration and a unique idea. I fear the sparrow not sensing its own demise also speaks to the human condition.
It's a great rengay! And a message so important!
Thanks Sherry.
Thanks Marja!!
Thanks....yes, the idea we were trying to convey.
Thank you Rosemary. I'm glad you like it.
Wonderful collaboration! I keep thinking of that sparrow.
Funny, I was thinking about the title, The Last Sparrow! Thank you so much.
Nice collaboration. I like the play of hope and loss. Well done.
Thanks so much, Imelda.
This is a beautiful poem and great collab.
I am also glad to be here and get to learn a new form of poetry.
Thanks! This was a new exercise for me too. I liked doing it.
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