A glosa poem

By Morgan Hannah, Life & Style Editor

The Carpet And The Storm

excerpt from “The Reason”:

“Why wait at all?

Hope springs alive,

Good may befall

I yet may thrive.”

                               – Stevie Smith

Soft patterns of white and blue

Beneath my feet,

Hard streaming lines of grey and blue

Above my head,

And silence permeated by rolling thunder

Inside my ears—

These are the sounds before the fall

Of the world and everything we know

And everyone we loved and everything that’s small,

These are the sounds that we wait for, but why wait at all?

I’ve cleaned the soft patterns of white and blue,

I’ve ran them over with a vacuum

Over and over,

I’ve painted the streaming lines of grey and blue—

The sky that never changes

From within my hive,

And the rolling thunder takes a tumble down the sidewalk

And into the valley and down the street,

The sound that is almost enticing because it’s one that thrives

The sound of life, of when hope springs alive.

But for now, my feet remain planted

In soft patterns of white and blue,

And my head remains below the clouds—

Streaming lines of grey and blue,

And silence is permeated by vacuums and

Rolling thunder, down the street it will sprawl

Living still happens,

Breathing in and out from inside,

But living is now so very small

And as long as we keep on breathing, good may befall.

And I’ve found comfort in the soft patterns of white and blue

Beneath my feet,

And in the hard-streaming lines of grey and blue

Above my head,

I’ve found comfort in waiting in between beats of rolling thunder,

The silence no longer too thick to breathe, too thick to survive

In and out from inside

Under and over

Even though I am one of many who must live with deprive

I’ve found comfort that I yet may thrive.