Time pummels…

Image by Malcolm Lightbody/Unsplash, Public Domain Dedication (CC0).

Published

May 27, 2020

Time pummels
The whole
Globe
With catastrophe
And weather—
Why be
Surprised
It also
Tests poems?

So what if
It’s old?
So what if
It’s been
Wept over
For centuries?

Notice—not a
Single phrase
Is blurred
On the page.

Here they are:
Words
Arranged in
Hopeful lines,
Patient
As seeds
In their furrows.

What is your voice
If not the rain?

Gregory Orr is the author of two books about poetry, Poetry as Survival and A Primer for Poets and Readers of Poetry, a memoir, The Blessing, and twelve collections of poetry, including How Beautiful The Beloved and The Last Love Poem I Will Ever Write. He taught at the University of Virginia from 1975 to 2019, where he founded the university’s Master of Fine Arts program in creative writing.

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