Poem of the Day: “Uphill” by Tricia Knoll, Frequent Contributor and Poet of the Week

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to present “Uphill” by Tricia Knoll, a Songs of Eretz Frequent Contributor and this week’s Poet of the Week.  A biography of the poet may be found in the “About Our Editor & Frequent Contributors” section.

Uphill

Tricia Knoll

My idea, not his. 

That December night, slick sidewalks

reflecting the globes of theater lights

and wind stuttering the park’s dread trees.

He struggled. A fat man

in a thick green coat.

Half a left leg and a book bag.

A stranger in a wheelchair.

Rolling more sideways

than forward on the three-block hill.

I offered to push him past

the historical society

where the sidewalk levels out.

Halfway up the second block

I came to. My compassion was stronger

than my body. Lessons of finish

what I start kicked in.

I made it. Sweating.

To the hilltop

with that heavy man

I never will forget.

Poet’s Notes:  I have a voice disability. I am not young. I try to be very attentive to the needs of people with other disabilities. This event is etched in my memory like the old-fashioned street lights on the Park blocks of Portland, Oregon; the rain on the slanted pavement, winter wind shaking trees. How hot I got.