Eve’s Apologetic, a poem … and your Wednesday Writing Prompt

In the broad sleepy range of memory
I found us on that first day, awakening
in the garden where history understands
us at our beginning and colored his
name weakness and mine infamy.
It made him the scabbard for the
sword of division and formed my flesh
into a chalice for new life and hope.
It wasn’t knowledge but knowing we
sought and still find on the tree of life
as we pass through the eons, melting
the moments into nameless gardens and
the freedoms that come without words.

– Jamie Dedes

WEDNESDAY WRITING PROMPT

What do you think? Is it knowledge or knowing that we seek in Life or some combination of the two? Share your thoughts in poetry or prose. If you feel comfortable, post your poem or the link to it in the comments below so that we might all enjoy it.

The recommended read for this week is Ted Kooser’s The Poetry Home Repair Manual: Practical Advice for Beginning Poets.  There’s so much I like about this manual.  For one thing, Ted assumes that if you are a heavy-duty reader, you already know quite a bit.  After all, one of the best ways to learn to write is to read. He operates on the moral principle that if you have a gift then you have the obligation to offer something by way of giving back. He says, “I hope I won’t exhaust your patience” and he doesn’t. He assumes that our goal is to reach others and to move them, so there is a great deal of emphasis on the relationship between the poet and her reader. He discusses our job as poet – not money, not fame – but “to serve the poems we write.”  This perspective makes reading and working with Ted Kooser’s The Poetry Home Repair Manual a refreshing guide to the poetic terrain for both budding and experienced writers interested in creating work that is fulfilling and truly artistic.

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