What Happens When a Poem

Welcome to National Poetry Month!

It’s Day One of National Poetry Month! Let’s get started --

4/1/25
What happens when
   a poem takes power?
She beats her
   pens into plowshares 
   and plowshares into swords 
Because she knows 
   pens tell stories,
   plowshares feed the hungry,
   and swords sometimes, sadly,
   are needed.
What happens when she
Looks across 
The vast expanse 
   of people and problems 
   of questions
   of rights lost and won 
   of sweet smells and savory nights 
And says
“I will take it from here.”

First, a word about how I tend to write poems.

At some point in the winter of 2020, I found a small pad of white paper that the wife at some point got from Staples. It turned out to be the perfect size and shape to hold just the right number of words. I wrote 99% of the poems in Every Day, Luv on these little suckers.

Today’s poem was inspired by a song that seems to follow our family around—”What Happens When a Woman” by Alexandra Olsavsky. My mom sings in a 200-woman chorus in my hometown and they’ve performed this song for years. And it’s fresh in my head because last night we saw one of my daughter’s besties perform it with her high school chorus.

So, thanks, Alexandra; thanks, mom; and thanks daughter’s bestie for today’s poem.

See you back here later this week. :)