Today I give you a second offering of Adagio: A Poetry Project. Perhaps you saw the first poem? The one where Elizabeth Marshall and I each strung words on colored threads and then wove them together into one unified piece. That idea, of writing collaboratively, was what initially launched this project and it is the heart and soul of how we see this project growing.
But just as its name suggests, an Adagio is a dance between two partners. A dance in which there is a lifting, a balancing, a turning. So, today, we are dancing as individuals to the same music. There is a poem from me, here, and another poem from Elizabeth over at her place. Together and apart, we are writing from the same prompt, the hymn "Born in the Night, Mary's Child."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It is night when you come
We have not made it to a place that makes sense
a place proper
a place right
But still
you come
First
there is darkness
so
much
darkness
But then
you burst forth
pulling on skin and bone and sinew
and the light
it
drips
molten
from your face
You
who at once
knows nothing
and
everything
You
are the one
that will tell us
that
God is good
even while
all around you
that early darkness
swirls
black
Hope
grips at your heels
a streamer
dancing and flapping
on the wind
and it
leaves
kingdom dust
on the streets
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Writing is, most often, a solo venture, a process worked deep inside the confines of one’s heart and soul. But when two pilgrim poets turn towards each other and embrace the tension that lies between, something new emerges. A writing “pas de deux” is born and the two begin weaving their words together, in and around, over and under, into something bigger than themselves. The writing becomes a lifting, a balancing, a turning…and the words on the page become an Adagio.
We would love for you to enter into this project with us. Please feel free to leave your own poem in the comments, either here or at Elizabeth's place. We welcome your choreography on this endeavor and we long to hear your offerings on the prompt.
