"What Virgil Said..."

Alabama School of Fine Arts (Photo by Erin Harney/Alabama NewsCenter)

I was glad to attend the Alabama State Poetry Society's Fall Conference last Saturday. The event was held at the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham, Ala.

There were excellent sessions led by Kwoga Fagin Maples and Heidi Staples. Kwoga led a beautiful session on writing historical persona poetry, and Heidi told us about ecopoetry (poetry with an ecological message) and led us in visualizing and writing about things that make us hopeful.

We then heard winning entries in the Fall ASPS Poetry Contest. This one of mine got an Honorable Mention:

What Virgil Said in that Dream You Almost Remembered

Tell it –

Because no one heard it quite the way you did.

Describe it –

Because no one saw it quite the way you did.

Every soul bears its own unique witness;

Every eye carries its own vision of the world.

Tell your story

Because it is one part

Of the grand story of the universe.

Only when we have heard everyone’s story

Will we see the beauty

Of the whole.

Until then,

We make our way in a fractured world

Seeing only in part –

Waiting for the next piece

To fall into place.

So sit here now.

Move with the ocean

Breathe with the wind

And tell us what you saw

On your way over.

                                                          ~ CK

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