2024 April Poem-A-Day Challenge
Day 8 Prompt: write a major event poem
Graduation in the Time of Covid
I tapped send and waited,
waited for the surge of relief or something,
something to mark these past nine years,
years of evening classes,
classes in between times,
times of juggling classes and work and mothering.
Mothering mingled with guilt, wondering,
wondering if it was all too much. But now it was sent.
sent – my final thesis document,
documenting months and years of writing done.
Done! The thesis title, “all the desert places”
places from memory and life and story, of course.
Of course, my husband said we should celebrate.
“Celebrate with whom?” It’s May of 2020. So very
very few options. It is what it is, sheltering at home.
Home during the pandemic, a necessity for one and all.
“All the desert places?” my daughter asked. “Is that right?”
“Right,” I answered later that day. She nodded.
Nodded and left the room. I smelled something baking.
Baking, my daughter’s latest covid pastime. She called.
Called me into the kitchen. Called one and all.
“All the Dessert Places” the icing on the cake read.
Read my family around me, eating cake on this,
this, the day of a major, quiet, at-home event.
Note: in case you didn’t already find out, the audio above is not me reading the poem, but it’s a bit of back story about the poem and the events surrounding this “major” event in my life. :)
The repetition pattern absolutely worked! It has a very "pent" feel.