Poetry for Brigid

My first participation in the annual Feast of Brigid Poetry reading: (scroll to the bottom to see the invitation and pass it freely about).

This one is from one of my favorite poets, and speaks no me no matter what color I am.

A Pledge to Rescue Our Youth
by
Maya Angelou
© 2006

 
      Young women, young men of color, we add our voices to the voices of your ancestors who speak to you over ancient seas and across impossible mountain tops.

      Come up from the gloom of national neglect, you have already been paid for.

      Come out of the shadow of irrational prejudice, you owe
             no racial debt to history.

      The blood of our bodies and the prayers of our souls have bought you a future free from shame and bright beyond the telling of it.

      We pledge ourselves and our resources to seek for you clean and well-furnished schools, safe and non-threatening streets, employment which makes use of your talents, but does not degrade your dignity.
 
      You are the best we have.

      You are all we have.

      You are what we have become.
 
We pledge you our whole hearts from this day forward. 

                                    -- as published in Essence magazine

Many Blessings of love and light, fire and water, hammer and melting, laughter and tears, to all of us!

May this poem be read aloud during this beautiful day by as many readers as may be so moved.



Feel free to copy the following to your blog and spread the word. Let poetry bless the blogosphere once again!

WHAT: A Bloggers (Silent) Poetry Reading

WHEN: Anytime February 2, 2009

WHERE: Your blog

WHY: To celebrate the Feast of Brigid, aka Groundhog Day

HOW: Select a poem you like - by a favorite poet or one of your own - to post February 2nd.

RSVP: If you plan to publish, feel free to leave a comment and link on this post. Last year when the call went out there was more poetry in cyberspace than I could keep track of. So, link to whoever you hear about this from and a mighty web of poetry will be spun.

Feel free to pass this invitation on to any and all bloggers.

Thank you, Reya, for beginning what is now an annual event, and Deborah Oak and Yezida for bringing it to my attention this year.

and a more personal Poem for Brighid

Be On the Look Out
by NorthLight
copyright 2009

Bolo ties, narrow cords holding a cameo – or a bullet – at my neck
Brighid’s Day, the well and forge in celebration
Wolves and roosters howling at the moon
Lobo at his best

Be on the look out for
Cornhusks made into dollies in this supremely catholic country
Where the Mayans hold to their own religions deep under the Roman form
Where I would have thought no Celt had ever set foot
Cornhusks line the sidewalk today, corn dollies, braided crosses, woven baskets
I feel at home for the first time

Being present to what is presented
Owning only what is mine
Loving this life
Outwardly and inwardly

Be on the lookout for
Pasiphae and Minos, their chamberlain and soothsayer,
Their priestess, their daughter, their impossible son

Be on the lookout for the astonishment of kings
For the moments of grace
For the chance to completely break out of an old pattern
Into something new

Listening I look, looking I see, seeking I find, finally I listen
Beyond the lookout is the face (and ear) of God Hir Self.

                                                    -- Imbolc 2009