Welcome to OpenLinkNight folks! This is your opportunity to link 1 poem of your choice as this is no prompt-day. For those who missed the Mr Linky deadline the past week or this Tuesday’s poetics about “Threads of Feelings”, this is also your opportunity to share your poem. Also, our Haibun Monday about “No Ke Me -Tree Buds” is also open the whole week.
Let me share with you a poem by Jane Hirschfied, read beautifully by Emily Levine:
ON THE FIFTH DAY
by Jane Hirshfield
On the fifth day
the scientists who studied the rivers
were forbidden to speak
or to study the rivers.
The scientists who studied the air
were told not to speak of the air,
and the ones who worked for the farmers
were silenced,
and the ones who worked for the bees.
Someone, from deep in the Badlands,
began posting facts.
The facts were told not to speak
and were taken away.
The facts, surprised to be taken, were silent.
Now it was only the rivers
that spoke of the rivers,
and only the wind that spoke of its bees,
while the unpausing factual buds of the fruit trees
continued to move toward their fruit.
The silence spoke loudly of silence,
and the rivers kept speaking,
of rivers, of boulders and air.
In gravity, earless and tongueless,
the untested rivers kept speaking.
Bus drivers, shelf stockers,
code writers, machinists, accountants,
lab techs, cellists kept speaking.
They spoke, the fifth day,
of silence.
To join us for Thursday’s OpenLinkNight, which happens every other week, here’s how to join:
See you at the poetry trail. ~Grace~
Happy OLN everyone! Hope you are having a good day/night! I will be by to visit in a bit!
Thanks for hosting, Grace, and for sharing Jane Hirshfield’s poetry. She is one of my favs.
Happy OLN everyone ❤️ Thanks for hosting us, Grace 🙂
Happy OLN back to you Sanaa!
I wasn’t able to write too much last week but wanted to try out Björn’s epistolary poetry prompt for today.
Looking forward to reading it Amaya!
What a stunning poem by Jane… so much needed these days when even silence is silenced.
Yes, love the stance by the poet!
She’s a wonderful poet.
Greetings Grace and All,
That was a lovely listen – such poise and precision, from both poet and performer…
Just in time for Spring, a new poem was published on my site earlier in the week. Hope you enjoy. Good to be back here again and looking forward to catching up with everyone else’s work soon.
Wow.. a novel, that is still in the future… congratulations. Hope you will be able to do the printed version too.
Happy International Womens’ Day to all!
Thanks for hosting Grace. I’ll be “coming to you” from St George, Bermuda until April 6. We are in a new rental this year (our 4th March here) and thankfully, the internet connections are excellent,
Off to read now and will do so again tomorrow morn.
Hello Lillian ~ I am envious of your warm weather and nature scenary. Enjoy your stay there. Good that you have good internet connection, smiles.
Hi Grace, thanks for this lovely Jane Hirshfield poem. It’s got me thinking.
I am glad you liked it Vivian ~ A powerful poem, I agree.
😊
Happy OLN day! I hope everyone is well. I have added yet another chapter in the Dorian Gray series of my poems. I am busy running in and out but will be back later to read and comment. Cheers! And thank you Grace for being here for us today.
Hi Toni! Looking forward to reading your poem. See you at the poetry trail !
Oh my, what a deep, beautiful poem by Jane Hirshfield you have shared with us. Thank you.
I am glad you think so. Thanks for joining us!
Thank you for hosting, Grace! Happy OLN.
Happy OLN Frank! See you at the poetry trail!
So sorry, I did it again. I skipped a hyphen when typing in the URL for my poem. Please delete the first Dwight L. Roth
Sure, I will!
Thank you Grace!
Grace, Wow! I love your piece… So many images sued to perfection. I could imagine you being another sign of the zodiac…perhaps a woman in the sky with star words pouring endlessly from her quill into the cosmos!
Dwight
Google kept telling me I had illegal characters in my URL. Not sure why. it is the wordpress URL that I always use.
Thank you Dwight. I believe the best way is to use your google email when you are commenting on Bloggers.
I don’t have anything google! Still using windows!
Here we are nearing the end of the first quarter of a new year. Finally I think things are settling down although that may be illusion. Nice to be writing and reading a bit more.
Thanks for joining us Ros~
What an amazing poem by Jane Hirshfield! Thank you for sharing, Grace. I’ve been away for quite a while. Glad to be back today. Happy OLN, everyone! 🙂
Good of you to join us Colin!
After re-reading it I realize how rebellious it is from my morals. I jumped some anxiety-ridden hoops to post this. Although, I have nothing to lose yet on this blog, so here you go. Here’s my post. https://ianmuollo.wordpress.com/2018/03/09/boycott-for-dverse/
Uh, hi. I apparently was too late for the Tuesday Poetics so posted my response to that here.
Hello ! Yes, this is what OLN is for – any poems are welcome. Thanks for linking up!
I am coming to enjoy this cozy pub for sure.
You are welcome to link up to our other poetry prompts of the week.
Yeah, sorry. I edited my page and Bjorn fixed my faux pas I think.
I added another…
Hello! For OLN, we only allow 1 poem to be shared per poet. I will have to delete the second one, sorry. For other poetry prompts by dVerse, one can share as many poems as they like.
Just made it at the end of the linky with a short piece. I’ll be reading all weekend to see what people have to offer. I like open-link it gives me a chance to see into people’s personalities depending on what they post.
Been riding my bike a lot so only writing when I can to make sure I have time to read and respond. The socialness of it all is so important and fun. I miss it when I get busy with life. It’s the best to see what people write about your work and this group has taught me much about poetry and people.
Group hug!