Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Special Feature: "The Thread" by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Contest Judge

The Thread
Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Contest Judge

My mother singing “Tora Lora Lora,”
the Irish lullaby  even though we were Brooklyn Jews.
The vacuum on the shag carpet. The singular birch
shaking over the hapless window sill. The humming refrigerator.
The chants encasing me in each swayed note as I wrapped
my thin arms around my cold chest in the cavernous synagogue.
The creak of the swing as I turn horizontal, defying gravity
in the static of the transistor radio. The loud slap on the bass notes
of the body that make bruises, then the slow breath
of forgiveness, pacing until the danger is gone.
All the possibilities in each library novel about a girl,
afraid at the start, but about to do something
to swirl the calm pond of her life. The first kiss in the back
of the school bus broken by applause. The sound of thunder,
an interior roar like hunger. The old staccato of my father's anger
before it dissolved into the tenderness of defeat.
The way some mornings rev up like motorcycles
coming point blank toward us. The exhaling speed
of rivers, starving for new ground, or betrayed
by sudden shorelines that break the water into remembering
willows. Bike tires on wet pavement, downhill,
at dawn. The happy rhythm of the subway rocking my spine
in and out of alignment with the dark as we tunneled
through water back to air, the miracle of one rushing animal
carrying us all. This buzzing body ferrying millions of cells into sound.


Poet's Notes: Music has been a central thread in my life as well as in many of our lives. I wrote this poem as a way to explore some of the many forms sound in rhythm can take in our lives, from the staccato of someone's anger to the roar of the vacuum cleaner. I think of what poet Li Young-Lee said about writing poetry: he hears/feels the rhythm, which is like a power line, then the words, like birds on that line, land. That's very much what composing poetry is for me also. 

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