Dawn Revisited

[Ruth]

It’s been pointed out to me that I’ve been neglecting the poetry corner. So here’s a poem by a former US poet laureate.

Dawn Revisited
by Rita Dove

Imagine you wake up
with a second chance: The blue jay
hawks his pretty wares
and the oak still stands, spreading
glorious shade. If you don’t look back,

the future never happens.
How good to rise in sunlight,
in the prodigal smell of biscuits –
eggs and sausage on the grill.
The whole sky is yours

to write on, blown open
to a blank page. Come on,
shake a leg! You’ll never know
who’s down there, frying those eggs,
if you don’t get up and see.
__________
From On the Bus with Rosa Parks, Norton, 2000. Rita Dove served as the U.S. Poet Laureate from 1993 to 1995, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1987.

[Gina]

I really like this one, Ruth. I could smell the breakfast cooking.

[Ruth]

Yes! Real details make a poem come alive, don’t you think? And the ending. Get up and join the world and discover,

[Scout]

I enjoyed this one and, Gina, it made me hungry - for breakfast and for shaking a leg and making the most of the day.