Hammer and a Nail
Clearing webs from the hovel
a blistered hand on the handle of a shovel
I’ve been digging too deep, I always do.
I see my face on the surface
I look a lot like narcissus
A dark abyss of an emptiness
Standing on the edge of a drowning blue.
I look behind my ears for the green
Even my sweat smells clean
Glare off the white hurts my eyes
Gotta get out of bed get a hammer and a nail
Learn how to use my hands, not just my head
I think myself into jail
Now I know a refuge never grows
From a chin in a hand in a thoughtful pose
Gotta tend the earth if you want a rose.
I had a lot of good intentions
Sit around for fifty years and then collect a pension,
Started seeing the road to hell and just where it starts.
But my life is more than a vision
The sweetest part is acting after making a decision
I started seeing the whole as a sum of its parts.
I look behind my ears for the green
Even my sweat smells clean
Glare off the white hurts my eyes
Gotta get out of bed get a hammer and a nail
Learn how to use my hands, not just my head
I think myself into jail
Now I know a refuge never grows
From a chin in a hand in a thoughtful pose
Gotta tend the earth if you want a rose.
My life is part of the global life
I’d found myself becoming more immobile
When I’d think a little girl in the world can’t do anything.
A distant nation my community
A street person my responsibility
If I have a care in the world I have a gift to bring.
I look behind my ears for the green
Even my sweat smells clean
Glare off the white hurts my eyes
Gotta get out of bed get a hammer and a nail
Learn how to use my hands, not just my head
I think myself into jail
Now I know a refuge never grows
From a chin in a hand in a thoughtful pose
Gotta tend the earth if you want a rose.
Emily Ann Saliers
I was listening to my Indigo Girls play list when I read this week’s mlmm writing prompt – what a world!:
I would like to ask you to see the broader picture, I would like to ask you to tell me how would YOU change the world, by imagining a rule you set, a poem you read, a story you weave will be HEARD and acted upon.
By coincidence, the song bursting through my headphones was “Hammer and a Nail.” Written almost twenty years ago, the message isn’t stale.
When I was in my 20s I did a lot of protesting, marching, writing and signing petitions, speaking up and out. In the long years since, I haven’t been much of an activist in action. I might talk the talk, but I haven’t walked the walk. No more. I decided this month that it’s time I protested again. Marched again. Wrote and signed again. Spoke up and out again.
We all do have a gift to give. Let’s get those hammers and nails. Let’s use our hands and our hearts. Let’s grow refuges and roses. I believe we can.
Composed for mlmm writing prompt 27.11.16: what a world! (Image found HERE )
December 2, 2016 at 12:42 am
This is a great response to this prompt. I saw the challenge but didn’t have time to get a response written. I agree with everything you have said.
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December 2, 2016 at 9:25 am
Thank you Suzanne. I am glad you share my hope for refuges and roses.
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November 27, 2016 at 6:39 am
Wow, I can see now why you were moved by the synchronicity! The song you shared has some very important messages, I love it, and I love that a combo of it and the prompt is inspiring you, to make this world we all live in YOURS again.
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November 27, 2016 at 12:09 pm
Thanks Oloriel. A very strong prompt this week, too. At a time when we need to assess our place within this world. So well placed and well put by you!
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