Thursday, February 24, 2022

66 degrees at noon yesterday. 16 degrees now. Winter storm warning for 6 to 10 inches of snow tomorrow. And here are some tulip tips smiling up at me in the Parlor Bed. Sigh.


Like you, I woke up to expected, terrible news about Ukraine. So now I am sitting here in my safe couch corner, filled with anger and sadness. You want to know a dumb thing that upsets me? Putin and I share a birthday. I hate that.

Anyway, the day will march on. I've got a bunch of meetings. I'm going out in the evening to write with my salon. After a three-day hiatus I'll return to my workout class, and that will certainly be a challenge. I've got to check corrections on my book's page proofs. I've got to start sussing out the Polish poets class. I've got to keep forging ahead with the editing project.

Here's one of the poems from the series titled "Accident Sonnets" which I wrote during and after the January 6 putsch attempt. It feels apt today.


Sonnet 2


Dawn Potter


the sign said it said

nothing it said nothing

could save us now now

nothing could save us

satan has us in his

clutches satan has us

the sign said in his

clutches the man

holding the sign stood

at the corner he stood

holding a sign that said

satan and the cars 

the cars they did not 

stop



[from Accidental Hymn (Deerbrook Editions, forthcoming)]

1 comment:

David O said...

Thank you for sharing this piece, Dawn! As always I enjoy the repetition which you use with such precision:

"the sign said it said/nothing it said nothing/could save us now now/nothing could save us"

I was forced to slow down and parse each line, separate from the other, otherwise they bled together into a sort of word soup. It's a compelling and timely piece not only because of what's happening in Ukraine, but generally in our time--are any of us really reading the "signs" of the times? Are we not in some way speeding by in our cars? The world revolves quickly, it's hard to catch your breath sometimes. I think this piece forced me to slow down, to read more closely--to ask questions--and for that, I thank you.