SOL 12/31 & Poetry Friday: "Holding the Light" by Stuart Kestenbaum

This post is doing double duty for Poetry Friday and for Slice of Life.  Linda Baie, a teaching friend I met through blogging for Slice of Life, is hosting our gathering this week. 

This poem, Holding the Light, appeared in a pile on my desk, copied at some past point in time because it spoke to me. I think one reason I love it is because it begins with the word gather (my OLW in 2023 and 2024). And the poem ends with a reference to gather. Because many of our hearts are broken, and the heart of the world as well, this seemed a good time to share this poem. 

 

 Holding the Light

Gather up whatever is 

glittering in the gutter,

whatever has tumbled 

in the waves or fallen

in flames out of the sky,

 

for it's not only our

hearts that are broken, 

but the heart 

of the world as well.

Stitch it back together.

 

You can read the rest of the poem here at poets.org. May this poem bring solace to our broken hearts and give us courage to "repair and stitch together what beauty there is" in our broken world. 

Thank you, Two Writing Teachers, for creating this challenge and providing the space and support for us year after year. And thanks to this magnificent community for sharing stories with me and encouraging my writing life.