I want a poem with legs

To walk around this great big world,

Striding over and into 

Many places, cultures and times

And Into the hearthstone of my 

Beloved fellow travelers

 

I want a poem that can pour a cuppa

And gently warm pairs of cold hands

Offering comforts for 

the anxious movements and twitches

That accompany being a human

And aware

 

I want a poem with eyes to see

And witness the wrongs of the planet’s people

Or take in the illuminated awe-infused moments

With the tongue and lips

To tell the thousands of stories

Our faces have turned from burning in shame

Or the thousands of other tales of surviving

And thriving

To reflect the beauty within the pain

And the treasure within the tempest

 

I want a poem with ears to hear

The ancient songs 

and whispered secrets of lovers 

The glory-triumphant proclamations

Or the desperate screams of the forsaken

Vibrating with the waves of 

Wonder 

And the anguished cries of heartbreak

 

I want a poem with long reaching arms

To wrap around the little things

The tender things 

That pulse with in each of us, 

To hold us up against a mighty

chest of strength

Like our Papas taking us to bed,

When we pretend to sleep, nestled against

The familiar smells and calming wisdom

Of our elders,

 

I want a poem that offers the breast 

Of the madonna,

Providing sustenance, healing and soothing

In heavenly manna freely flowing to all

And each as needed

Stopping the forever hunger for at least

These precious gulping moments

 

I want a poem with a rapid beating heart

And gasping lungs,

With the sweat of life long labors

And the vast relief of rest at long last

Alive with the exquisite perceptions

That beat with the love that longs to

Join in its harmonious rhythms

To the silver threads we weave and unravel

 

This poem I want is the desire to destroy

Our pathetic attempts at aggrandizement of 

The tiny fears and failings

The lost in loneliness meanderings through

The dark woods and vast night skies of 

Our need to be small and large at the same time

At the same time, to keep ignited the flame of hope

And wonder alight and alive

With trust.

 

 I want a poem to heal us, to see the wholeness 

Of us, 

To acknowledge our deep need

With each other

Even as we oft work to distance ourselves from that

I want a poem that builds the bridge 

Between us.