Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EDT March 22nd 2024

9 Comments

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we read a poem “Yes It Will Rain (or Prayer for Our First Home)” by Patrick Rosal, posted below.

Our prompt was: “Write about turning a dry little yard into a garden.”

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Please join us for our next session Monday March 25th at 6pm EDT, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions.

Yes It Will Rain (or Prayer for Our First Home) by Patrick Rosal

Here is our little yard  

too small            for a pool  
or chickens   let alone 

a game of tag or touch 
football       Then 

again   this stub-  
born patch  

of crabgrass  is just 
big enough      to get down  

flat on our backs 
with eyes wide open    and face 

the whole gray sky  just 
as a good drizzle 

begins                   I know  
we’ve had a monsoon  

of grieving to do  
which is why  

I promise    to lie 
beside you  

for as long as you like  
or need  

We’ll let our elbows 
kiss     under the downpour  

until we’re soaked  
like two huge nets  
                    left  

beside the sea  
whose heavy old

ropes strain  
stout with fish 

If we had to     we could  
feed a multitude  

with our sorrows  
If we had to  

we could name   a loss  
for every other  

drop of rain   All these  
foreign flowers 

you plant from pot  
to plot  

with muddy fingers  
—passion, jasmine, tuberose—  

we’ll sip 
the dew from them  

My darling                here
is the door I promised  

Here
is our broken bowl Here  

                        my hands  
In the home of our dreams  

the windows open  
in every  

weather—doused  
or dry—May we never  

be so parched 

Copyright © 2024 by Patrick Rosal. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on March 13, 2024, by the Academy of American Poets.

9 thoughts on “Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EDT March 22nd 2024”

  1. Rita B's avatar Rita B

    Turning a dry little yard into a garden

    Rita Basuray

    I try.

    I wish I had green thumbs.

    I do have boxed empty spaces.

    But, just like today’s poem, I’m boxed in, lacking imagination.

    Plant local flowers or foreign?

    Wait for the rain or water the seedlings?

    Only if I could start, my dry little yard could turn into a garden!

    Like

    Reply
    • Andre F Lijoi's avatar Andre F Lijoi

      Rita, I love the contrast between the green thumbs and the boxed empty spaces and your observation that the spaces in the poem have tops and bottom. Your speaker’s reflection and questions, I am confident, will produce a lovely garden. Andre

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      Reply
  2. Andre F Lijoi's avatar Andre F Lijoi

    A dry yard becomes a garden…

    For years she lived in the dark

    Shut off to the outside

    No sunlight, no wind, not even a drizzle of rain.

    But the poet says,

    “In a dark time, the eye begins to see.”

    “You don’t want to know my story.”

    Curious that she said that.

    “I have time.”

    A crack of light found its way in

    and with the light, the wind

    and the embrace of the way of the rain.

    The parched place that was her soul

    began to weep,

    those tears watered her spirit

    and it began to rise.

    afl 03.22.24

    Like

    Reply
  3. michele348's avatar michele348

    About turning a dry yard into a garden~~~

    She was bereft, devoid of joy.

    She had already lost so much… her health was failing

    and she knew her time on this earth was soon to end.

    I talked with her on the phone, trying to console her,

    and she, instead, consoled me.

    She reminded me that we both should be very thankful for

    the loving families we both have

    and to make use of every moment we share with them.

    I have not heard from her in a bit of time, I tried sending an email

    and did not get a response. I assume the end arrived.

    But I am assured she is looking down upon her family and upon me

    and asking for God’s love to surround us.

    An earthly friend lost, but a heavenly friend gained.

    Like

    Reply
  4. michele348's avatar michele348

    She had already lost so much… her health was failing

    and she knew her time on this earth was soon to end.

    I talked with her on the phone, trying to console her,

    and she, instead, consoled me.

    She reminded me that we both should be very thankful for

    the loving families we both have

    and to make use of every moment we share with them.

    I have not heard from her in a bit of time, I tried sending an email

    and did not get a response. I assume the end arrived.

    But I am assured she is looking down upon her me and upon me

    and asking for God’s love to surround us.

    An earthly friend lost, but a heavenly friend gained.

    Like

    Reply
  5. al3793's avatar al3793

    Michele,

    I am stuck by the consoler being consoled by the sufferer but as you know this is common. The faith and hope your speaker expresses takes me to Hebrews 11:1, ” Now faith is the confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Thank you. Andre

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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