113 Comments
⭠ Return to thread

Your 3-year-old muse inspired some gorgeous lines, here Lisa. So lovely: "May you curl like spoons/in the lap of the earth and air yourselves to the sky." I love the idea of babies drawing inspiration from the stars, and I also thought, "when any of us see the stars, may be wonder what we might still become" (inhale...exhale...yes, please).

The poem that wanted to emerge for me:

May you recognize

your own skin for

the raiment it is,

bespoke and buttoned

securely with belonging.

May it snug with certainty,

neither chafing

nor constraining, containing

enough room to breathe

but not enough to lease.

May it wear well, sturdy

at its seams, its pockets

deep enough

to carry all your dreams.

Expand full comment

I love this so much! I read the line "may it snug with certainty" so many times . . . the combination of sounds and the use of snug as a verb is just so delicious. And ah, the ending! "its pockets / deep enough / to carry all your dreams." Beautiful.

Expand full comment

Thank you, friend! Yes - I love snug as a verb...and I love even more how poetry is such a great vehicle for flouting the stuffy rules of grammar and hybridizing parts of speech. Poetry is radical like that <fist pumps for poetry!!!>

Expand full comment

Beautiful Keith....both in language and meaning.

Expand full comment

Thank you, Karri <3

Expand full comment

Just enough room.

Expand full comment

Yes, just enough. :)

Expand full comment

Ooooh, chills for this one Keith. Who couldn't benefit from this blessing? As always, your message and your wordcraft are equally marvelous.

Expand full comment

Thanks, Rebekah - indeed, I think most everyone carries the burden of feeling not enough/too much - at least to some extent. <3

Expand full comment

What beautiful wishes,Keith. I love the pairing of "Bespoke and Buttoned" connected to "belonging." Your gift for enhancing any idea, concept, creative thought with such luminous and lyrical words is remarkable.

Expand full comment

Thank you, Larry - that's a wonderful compliment! I'm grateful for it :))

Expand full comment

This is such a beautiful wish, Keith. I love every line, but especially "bespoke and buttoned securely with belonging," "snug with certainty," and all of the last four lines - which, I guess is still almost everything😅

Expand full comment

Haha, thank you, A. - it's okay with me if you like every line ; ) And, I know that's often how I feel about your poems (hard to isolate one or two lines, because so many of them grab me).

Expand full comment

Love this Keith, feeling comfortable in one's own skin is, is there anything more important? It really all starts from there. Yes it must fit "securely with belonging" and have "pockets deep enough to carry all your dreams."

Expand full comment

Thank you, Julie - so glad to know this resonated for you!

Expand full comment

Love the word raiment and love that alliteration right after-bespoke and buttoned/deep enough to carry your dreams…wow!

Expand full comment

Thanks, Billy - much appreciated :)

Expand full comment