Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EST February 21st 2025

4 Comments

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we read a poem “Siren Song” by Margaret Atwood, posted below.

Our prompt was: “Write about a song nobody knows.”

Participants are warmly encouraged to share what you wrote below (“Leave a Reply”), to keep the conversation going here, bearing in mind that the blog of course is a public space where confidentiality is not assured.

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Please join us for our next session Friday February 28th at 12pm EST, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions.

Siren Song by Margaret Atwood

This is the one song everyone
would like to learn: the song
that is irresistible:

the song that forces men
to leap overboard in squadrons
even though they see the beached skulls

the song nobody knows
because anyone who has heard it
is dead, and the others can't remember.

Shall I tell you the secret
and if I do, will you get me
out of this bird suit?

I don't enjoy it here
squatting on this island
looking picturesque and mythical

with these two feathery maniacs,
I don't enjoy singing
this trio, fatal and valuable.

I will tell the secret to you,
to you, only to you.
Come closer. This song

is a cry for help: Help me!
Only you, only you can,
you are unique

at last. Alas
it is a boring song
but it works every time.

Copyright Credit: Margaret Atwood, “Siren Song” from Selected Poems 1965-1975. Copyright © 1974, 1976 by Margaret Atwood. Reprinted with the permission of the author and Houghton Mifflin Company.
Source: Poetry (February 1974)

4 thoughts on “Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EST February 21st 2025”

  1. michele348's avatar michele348

    About a song nobody knows~~~

    I hear the echoes of a
    tune in my head.
    It’s not a bouncy melody…
    the kind you hum
    while in the shower.

    Instead, it is a song that my soul,
    my spirit within,
    keeps repeating to me,
    much like the children’s round,
    “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.”

    I believe its purpose is to convey
    its meaning to my mind,
    and thereby, to my actions
    as I navigate in this world.

    It encourages me to persevere,
    to fight for what is right,
    and to remain strong despite
    whatever happens around me
    or within me.

    I hope I never lose my sense of hearing.

    Like

    Reply
    • al3793's avatar al3793

      Michele, I hear a fine tuned willingness to hear the song of the soul and be fueled by it. It is a gift yet it comes with the cost of the responsibilities attached to hearing. Thank you. Andre

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  2. al3793's avatar al3793

    The song nobody knows…
    “it’s a boring song but it works every time, the song that is irresistible and unknown.”
    Unlike the siren’s song it is a song yet to be written.
    It is the song of deep connection that many yearn for
    and were they to hear it they would be drawn in without realizing what happened.
    It is like the hospital chaplain on a cold call who is able to persist and remain present despite the contention,
    “I don’t need your help. I don’t want to talk,” and yet can still hear,
    “Please stay.”
    This is so much more than seeing between the lines.
    It is a witness to the depth of beings that have gone
    all the way down to a common place of connection.

    Like

    Reply
    • michele348's avatar michele348

      To see through and beyond the negative words that seem to cancel connection. To dissolve the corrosive glue that envelopes the heart so that commonalities may be seen rather than differences. And songs of jubilation will be heard, welcoming us back home.

      Thank you for inspiring me, once again.

      Like

      Reply

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