{"id":1011266,"date":"2023-04-02T13:36:55","date_gmt":"2023-04-02T18:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/?p=1011266"},"modified":"2025-03-03T14:07:37","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T20:07:37","slug":"bridges-bravery-and-bereavement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/bridges-bravery-and-bereavement\/","title":{"rendered":"Bridges: Bravery and Bereavement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bereaved<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Does an owl dream of quahogs drenched
\nIn truffle butter; seaweed sprinkled
\nWith salt, and a pinch of pecorino cheese?
\nOwl’s longing lingers – forms tendrils of
\nMemory, like river fog. Who?<\/em> She calls
\nBut Moon sees all, stays silent.
\nOwl cries out soul-ache; longing
\nRolls like thunder, tumbles mercurial,
\nElusive as a ghost, across a field
\nLittered with shell and bones.
\nThe cowbird sings triumphant.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Holly Jahangiri (4\/2\/2023)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Inspired by\u00a0Day Two (napowrimo.net)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Bridge<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A chasm yawns:
\nFrom outraged infants’ protest squall
\nTo distant shores of resignation.
\nHidden bridges span the gaps:
\nDandelion seeds
\nWafted on the breeze
\nOf a child’s foolish wish.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Holly Jahangiri (4\/2\/2023)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Remember how Dad used to run around saying, “Stop that!” after one day teaching us to wish on dead dandelions by blowing the seeds to scatter them in the wind? Whoops<\/em>. Who knew those sunny, bright yellow blossoms were noxious weeds<\/em> in cultivated yards, once the seeds took root and grew? We teach our kids all sorts of fun things, then try to tame their wild impulses. Grandparents are for reminding them of their inner wild things. And that’s how you bridge the generation gap.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Today’s Poets<\/h2>\n

Gwendolyn Bennet<\/strong> – “From 1924 to 1927, she taught art at Howard University, but took a year-long leave in 1925 to study art in Paris on a scholarship. … Bennett published over twenty poems in the 1920s. She also completed a great deal of artwork, much of which was destroyed in two fires[.]” Read more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To a Dark Girl by Gwendolyn Bennett – Poems | Academy of American Poets<\/a><\/p>\n

Joseph Bruchac<\/strong> – Joseph Bruchac is an American writer and storyteller who explores his Abenaki ancestry and Native American folklore in his work. He has published more than 120 books for adults and children, including poetry, novels, and short stories. Read more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Steel by Joseph Bruchac | Poetry Foundation<\/a> – I was drawn to this poem, written to honor the courage of the many Mohawk steelworkers who built bridges and skyscrapers in North America, because I’ve been doing some genealogical research, wherein I learned that many of my own ancestors were ironworkers from Shotts, Lanarkshire, Scotland.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I was curious about the dedication at the beginning of “Steel.” Who were Rick Hill and Buster Mitchell? I’m still not entirely sure, but I learned more about the disastrous collapse of the Pont de Quebec.<\/p>\n

“The Pont de Qu\u00e9bec<\/em> is a road, rail and pedestrian bridge across the lower Saint Lawrence River in Canada. The bridge failed twice during construction, at the cost of over 100 lives, in 1907 and again in 1916, and took over 30 years to complete. At least 33 of those killed were Mohawk steelworkers.” Read more: Morning Open Thread: In Beauty – Poems for Indigenous Peoples Day (dailykos.com)<\/a><\/p>\n

August 29, 1907: The day the Quebec Bridge collapsed | JDQ (journaldequebec.com)<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

April is National Poetry Month<\/a>. This year marks its 27th year. NaPoWriMo<\/a> – 30 days of writing poems – is poets’ answer to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).<\/p>\n

This coincides with the A to Z Blogging Challenge<\/a>, now celebrating its 13th anniversary. Some participants choose a theme; others wing it. Doesn’t matter! The real challenge is to build a practice of writing daily. I think I stuck with it…once. There’s still time to sign up – registration ends April 9. You can see the list of participants – I’m sure they’d love it if you’d visit and comment on their blogs.<\/p>\n

This month, my goal is to:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Write a poem a day and share it – uncurated<\/a> – here; and<\/li>\n
  2. Highlight some poets you may be unfamiliar with.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I encourage you to click the links to read about them and their work. I plan to choose a diverse array of classical and contemporary poets – indigenous poets, Black poets, women poets, LGBTQ poets – that challenge us to see the world differently while also tapping into universal themes and emotions.<\/p>\n

    Remember, too, that comments and conversation are always welcome here. (Spammers<\/em>, on the other hand, will be tossed into the moat or mocked, so before you leave an irrelevant comment or drop a link, consider that it’s fair game!)<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Who knew those sunny, bright yellow blossoms were noxious weeds in cultivated yards, once the seeds took root and grew? We teach our kids all sorts of fun things, then try to tame their wild impulses. Grandparents are for reminding them of their inner wild things. And that’s how you bridge the generation gap.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1011291,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_has_post_settings":[],"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"hashtags":[],"class_list":["post-1011266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-25 20:50:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1011266"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1011300,"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011266\/revisions\/1011300"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1011291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1011266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1011266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1011266"},{"taxonomy":"hashtags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtags?post=1011266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}