Archive for the ‘Septuagenarian’ Category

• FOUND POEM

  Date: 2021.01.13 | Category: Assignments, LHP/MHP, Poetry, Septuagenarian | Response: 0

  FOUND POEM

  Attributed to Septuagenarian: love is what happens when I die (March 2021)

   

  One doesn’t have to imagine good and evil amidst all this terror

  sadness, the bones and the blood surrender

  we can make a difference we are all somebody

  we are not on the backs on the backs on the backs

  of sorrow

   

  that preceded

   

  head separated from body

  body separated from country

  family separated

   

  love guarantees memory        madness

  guns in white rooms the ghost

  of a man an unholy ghost trying to rewrite the story

   

  what if what if what if asking the questions is [not] enough; sometimes

   

  I feel like a boxer punching    the world

  is heavy that’s when the silence is broken

  not with words but with images   children

   

  didn’t know what to make of the bickering

  children got lost in the silences babies suffering;

  the father the mother the siblings gone

  a newspaper headline

   

  to the wicked and the wise there is a difference

  between opinion and truth, a space where dying

  to love where freedom is clearly not where in the world we are

   

  divisive and our lives are at risk

  tolerate a difficult word; racism, white men with assault rifles; death

   

  is temporary

   

  history implodes on a regular irregular heartbeat the charade is over this year

   

  love

  like a sorcerer reads palms this is love choking on air,

  ready to survive pedestals

  collapse amidst a pandemic

   

  hallelujah!

   

  as I sip my morning coffee it is grief it is death it is love;

  hate travels the ♥ broken is what saves us.

   

  © Sherry Quan Lee January 12, 2021

   

  ASSIGNMENT: I’ve been thinking about the recent insurrection at the capitol, the fast and flowing media coverage, the attempts to oust the 45th, etc.  My thought was, as a poet, I should write a found poem based on various print and even video media; but, I thought it would be complicated because of copyright, what is fair use, and how to attribute my sources (unless there is no thought of publishing it).  Instead, I turned to my own writing using only text from my forthcoming book.  Try this as an assignment, use words and phrases from what you have previously written and “find” a poem. I started with a goal in mind, to discover what I might have, perhaps unknowingly, said beyond the personal, have I entered the world?  Having a theme in mind isn’t necessary, it is enough to just randomly choose words and phrases you are drawn to as you reread what you have written over a particular span of time.

  NOTE: The poem published here is a first draft.

• FROM LOVE IMAGINED TO THE POSSIBILITY OF LOVE

  Date: 2020.12.17 | Category: Septuagenarian | Response: 0

  From Love Imagined to the possibility of Love-Septuagenarian: love is what happens when I die.

   

  If you’re not familiar with the writer I am, here’s a brief bio:

   

  I started writing in 2^nd grade, but began a serious writing career in my early 30’s when I realized there were no books about a mixed-race person growing up passing for white—so I had to write it.  It took me 20 years to earn an undergraduate degree, which I focused on writing and multi-cultural studies.  Ten years later I entered an MFA program focusing on creative non-fiction and poetry. Since, I have taught creative writing at Metro State University; and, written several books.

   

  Three years ago I began writing a book of poems, Oh So Wild Oh So Beautiful.  Two years ago the book became a book of prose.  Last year the book, a memoir, returned to poetry with a new title, Septuagenarian: love is what happens when I die; and, this year, December 2020, the final manuscript was submitted and will be published March 2021.

   

  2020 was a difficult year for so many for so many reasons.  I had to remind myself that not everyone can be out in the streets protesting, but there is something we can all do to fight injustice.  I had to remind myself I am a writer and I can write.  And that’s what I did.  I wrote poems for an online anthology, A Moment of Silence.  I wrote an endorsement for a Minnesota Senate hopeful.  And, deep reflection went into my memoir which included the letting go of shame, the ability to forgive, and the acceptance that survival is a commendable act of resistance.  Septuagenarian also was the response to Love Imagined: a mixed-race memoir.  Septuagenarian is the possibility of love; yes, even at the age of 72.