poem: Are You Hungry?

poem: Are You Hungry?

A Chapter by Marie Anzalone
"

dedicated to the writing community that inspires and supports me

"

for E,J, P, and G- the members of the S.S. and several others. 

 

This is for everyone whose glory days did not end

    with high school graduation.

       For men who looked John Wayne in the eye,

   and said, sorry, partner

      I want to be part of something larger

    than my own dusty interior landscape;

        for women who dare believe

          if they take care in the choosing

      the happiest days will be the ones

          after the wedding. For art creators

      embarking on the high sweet notes that

            mark the tune of their

                 own dance.

 

 

This is for the boy who grew to be a man

     carrying a ripped and carefully mended copy

        of his earliest dream in the back

            pocket of faded Levis.

     And for the girl whose classmates

   read Cosmo while she isolated

           proteins and gave parents

    another year or ten of hope for

        daughters and sons in hospice. THIS is

     for the street-sweepers who bless

         the ragged and the cultured, alike

             in the transcourse of the day. It is for

     the teacher who keeps food in her desk

         and thinks to ask, "are you hungry, child?"

 

This is for those who say, it is too late for them

      but they will cultivate Hope

          in others.

 

This is for the housewife who fantasizes

       about slaying dragons and the prince who

   slays her. It is for a pair of worn motorcyle boots

           with silver buckle and chain,

             whose owner can only ever reach out

  so far, but whose span

        covers the spirit of humanity in

        a tired pen and learned prose. For the man

              who saw God in a cheeseburger.

            For the woman who sees ghosts

      and sews her whispered heart's longings

           secretly, carefully, longingly

   into the quilt that covers her lap;

            her smile deceptively serene,

                  gripping needles in fists

         so you cannot see her hands shaking.

 

This is for the artist who hides, laughing,

           in plain sight with his Lady Muse. For

  the star-crossed lovers who drafted

         equations of love on a tangential curve

     whose equilibirum was interred

              half a continent away. For those

         who hold out for soul mates

        and the perfection of a desire

               that this time, will not hurt. For

   those with the courage to walk away

        from what does not serve, to find the skin

they are comfortable in, to look

    for wisdom in sources that

   are younger than 2000 years and further

       away than around the block. For those with

             the wherewithal to make mistakes

          and pay for transgressions and still

    put it out there again, anyway.

 

This is for those who believe that Life is Love;

    that sometimes your sweetheart can be true

         for a lifetime, but know that often,

    we change. We change, and we

         hold the space for others and we fly

               and with our flight we give them wings too

        and we look deep into a pair of eyes,

    a stranger, and we swallow our fear,

       we put forth a burned hand

        and say I understand or I too have seen

or sometimes, even, I could love you, deeply.

 

This, then is for the believers,

  the timeless wanderers and old souls, the star

     travelers and channelers of old gods, the

          creators of new ones and the worlds in which

     they inhabit. Those with the power

         to face and confront demons. This is for you,

   loudly, for battering down the door of my fortress,

             and for you, quietly

     for taking my hand, for showing me

                a different way to see.

 

Are you hungry, my friend?



© 2018 Marie Anzalone


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Featured Review

And this, dear friend, is POETRY! You so often empty your heartfelt thoughts before your readers, trying perhaps in the most diplomatic ways (though sometimes with a hard nudge) to sit up, take notice, take head out sand or wherever else it is. In this you've selected groups and individuals, problems, actions and ignorance - much more of the latter. Too many suffer the lack of not just food but hope for something more than just opening eyes of a morning and finding life the same as every day past. Yhen, there are other words, other thoughts, about hungering for love, loving, for caring and more: '.. For the star-crossed lovers who drafted ~ equations of love on a tangential curve ~ whose equilibirum was interred ~ half a continent away. For those ~ who hold out for soul mates ~
and the perfection of a desire ~ that this time, will not hurt.'

A brilliance of words and thoughs, my dear friend.

Posted 11 Years Ago


2 of 2 people found this review constructive.

Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

Cultivating the art of true presence is, I think, the most profund gift we ever developed to give ea.. read more
emmajoy

11 Years Ago

What happens is, what happened was, and neither can be erased, it's like each life's rolling stone. .. read more
Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

"the more deeply that sorrow has carved into your being, the more joy it can contain." -K. Gibranread more



Reviews

I am, the words I am . Well you are. Few of us take the time to lay bare and look inward . Then stand and share and listen . Thank you. Marie .

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

Thank you, lee, for the reviews, and thank you for the kindness in this one. I do try to listen, to .. read more
For the woman...who sews her whispered heart's longings carefully into the quilt
that covers her lap, her smile deceptively serene, gripping needles in fists
so you cannot see her hands shaking.

These, with the entire last stanza, my favorite lines of this
"Ballad of the Heartbroken, Ode to Those Who Would Persevere."

Yours is the tender hand that wields the Hammer of Thor, my sweet friend,
as well as the Arrow of Artemis, the Balm of Chloe, and the Wisdom of Diana.

How fortunate am I to have made your acquaintance. You teach me more
every time I read you than forty years of writing have done!

Posted 11 Years Ago


2 of 2 people found this review constructive.

Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

Mark, dear Mark. Miss you, my friend. We do so have to get together some time again. I am flattered .. read more
Oh my, this is the most wonderful work I've read in awhile. I was lost, enthralled and swept away inside every piece of it, and felt as though certain parts were written especially for me. Wonderful, just wonderful work.


Posted 11 Years Ago


2 of 2 people found this review constructive.

Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

Thanks, Kelli. It was tribute to many friends and observations, not just the 4 mentioned. You shoudl.. read more
Georgia Gypsy

11 Years Ago

Yes I do see myself a little in this, and I thank you:D
Holy! I sing hallelu! On this planet there are at least this many people who read and nod and slap their knee at this poem and hear the caged birds singing as I do. would I be able to give it 1000 I would be a happy soul.

Posted 11 Years Ago


2 of 2 people found this review constructive.

Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

This is for all of us, Corset. Let's find some joy today, shall we?
Corset

11 Years Ago

Let's :) Thank you ,t's been sometime since I had a whole day.
seems a little uneven like yer borrowing from me ;) ...but really has a different feel than yer usual write...nevertheless...well done as always

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

Thanks, gombeggar, I try with many different forms, and I borrow voices from all over. And there wil.. read more
gombeggar

11 Years Ago

me in yer head? u poor poor girl, u ...u sure u don't have heat stroke er sumpthin today?
Wow Marie, stunning and straight to the heart.. I know you say this is written for certain initialed individuals, but I find pieces of me, scattered throughout each stanza...Where I look for my hope and where I find it, who has taken my hand, loudly and softly, knowing or unknowingly, and shown me that I can really have my dreams... As long as I never give up. This is poetry to feed the soul. Beautiful.

Posted 11 Years Ago


2 of 2 people found this review constructive.

Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

Thank you so much, Horizon. Yes, 5 inviduals, including myself; unlikely allies who made a pact to h.. read more
Horizon K.

11 Years Ago

Ah yes, this one makes me sigh and feel starry eyed and I know it's not my imagination that I see ou.. read more
Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

not your imagination at all... all was with purpose
there is always another hungry child, sometimes they seek compassion, adventure, knowledge, refuge, we are so much more than we pretend to be, those who rush in, and try and fail, and regroup and try again

i love these words, maybe i will embroider them on my heart

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

a toast then, to landing enigmas, clarity, and laughs in each others' laps :-)
Emily B

11 Years Ago

and pandas? ;)
Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

that would encompass some of all three, I do believe :-)
Marie, this is so beautifully written, like a hushed whisper across the world, naming and claiming each soul that ever existed and holding you arms out for them to gather and fold into you. I always enjoy your work and I have never been disappointed by anything I've read. Lovely, so lovely.

Posted 11 Years Ago


2 of 2 people found this review constructive.

Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

it is why I do what I do; why I have not given up.. humor and compassion and empathy are the only to.. read more
Ravyne Hawke

11 Years Ago

Nothing that I can think of at the moment.. I think you've covered them pretty well. Just thankful t.. read more
Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

Likewise to you, dear friend, for so much that you do that goes unnoticed.
And this, dear friend, is POETRY! You so often empty your heartfelt thoughts before your readers, trying perhaps in the most diplomatic ways (though sometimes with a hard nudge) to sit up, take notice, take head out sand or wherever else it is. In this you've selected groups and individuals, problems, actions and ignorance - much more of the latter. Too many suffer the lack of not just food but hope for something more than just opening eyes of a morning and finding life the same as every day past. Yhen, there are other words, other thoughts, about hungering for love, loving, for caring and more: '.. For the star-crossed lovers who drafted ~ equations of love on a tangential curve ~ whose equilibirum was interred ~ half a continent away. For those ~ who hold out for soul mates ~
and the perfection of a desire ~ that this time, will not hurt.'

A brilliance of words and thoughs, my dear friend.

Posted 11 Years Ago


2 of 2 people found this review constructive.

Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

Cultivating the art of true presence is, I think, the most profund gift we ever developed to give ea.. read more
emmajoy

11 Years Ago

What happens is, what happened was, and neither can be erased, it's like each life's rolling stone. .. read more
Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

"the more deeply that sorrow has carved into your being, the more joy it can contain." -K. Gibranread more

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Added on June 29, 2013
Last Updated on July 29, 2018
Tags: courage, desire, passion, life force, dreams, change, growing, friendship, reality, poetry

Peregrinating North-South Compass Points


Author

Marie Anzalone
Marie Anzalone

Xecaracoj, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala



About
Bilingual (English and Spanish) poet, essayist, novelist, grant writer, editor, and technical writer working in Central America. "A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to ta.. more..

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