FOUND POEM<\/p>\n
Attributed to Septuagenarian: love is what happens when I die <\/em>(March 2021)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One doesn\u2019t have to imagine good and evil amidst all this terror<\/p>\n sadness, the bones and the blood surrender<\/p>\n we can make a difference we are all somebody<\/p>\n we are not on the backs on the backs on the backs<\/p>\n of sorrow<\/p>\n <\/p>\n that preceded<\/p>\n <\/p>\n head separated from body<\/p>\n body separated from country<\/p>\n family separated<\/p>\n <\/p>\n love guarantees memory \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0madness<\/p>\n guns in white rooms the ghost<\/p>\n of a man an unholy ghost trying to rewrite the story<\/p>\n <\/p>\n what if what if what if asking the questions is [not] enough; sometimes<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I feel like a boxer punching \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the world<\/p>\n is heavy that\u2019s when the silence is broken<\/p>\n not with words but with images \u00a0\u00a0children<\/p>\n <\/p>\n didn\u2019t know what to make of the bickering<\/p>\n children got lost in the silences babies suffering;<\/p>\n the father the mother the siblings gone<\/p>\n a newspaper headline<\/p>\n <\/p>\n to the wicked and the wise there is a difference <\/em><\/p>\n between opinion and truth, a space where dying <\/em><\/p>\n to love where freedom is clearly not where in the world<\/em> we are<\/p>\n <\/p>\n divisive and our lives are at risk<\/p>\n tolerate a difficult word; racism, white men with assault rifles; death<\/p>\n <\/p>\n is temporary<\/p>\n <\/p>\n history implodes on a regular irregular heartbeat the charade is over this year<\/p>\n <\/p>\n love<\/p>\n like a sorcerer reads palms this is love choking on air,<\/p>\n ready to survive pedestals<\/p>\n collapse amidst a pandemic<\/p>\n <\/p>\n hallelujah!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n as I sip my morning coffee it is grief it is death it is love;<\/p>\n hate travels the ♥\u00a0broken is what saves us.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a9 Sherry Quan Lee January 12, 2021<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 Instead, I turned to my own writing using only text from my forthcoming book.\u00a0 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<\/em>?\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n NOTE: The poem published here is a first draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" FOUND POEM Attributed to Septuagenarian: love is what happens when I die (March 2021) One doesn\u2019t 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 …<\/p>\n