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Poetry Group | James Elsaesser


The upper left hand is a photo of grass with dewdrops on it, the upper right is a photo of many people walking across a road. The bottom of the image is a moss green. On it is a poem titled "Poetry Group" by James Elsaesser reading "For the young blonde woman/in group today who asked,/'How do you spell 'blonde'?'//and a moment later asks,/'How to you spell 'patient'?'/then continues to write//I pause to consider the photos/the night before/years arranged/on easels/the long line of mourners/a kind of murmuring farewell//For the old boy/''Johnny Jet''/'Grounded'/faded denim jacket/dog tags in one hand/As we spell the words/as we may offer/as we will say/one by one, to one another//Laughter. Life. Understanding./Not in what I write here/but what we have witnessed/and share//grass green in the fields/the streets and life beneath the sun/these words spoken as one song//each word written with care/offered to one another//this quiet gift/of change."

If a line or phrase resonates with you, we invite you to use it as a starting point to create your own poem.


We welcome you to share your poem with the IPM community here: A Poetry Commons.

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