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a blurry photo © 2013 Jennifer Wagner
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say the names
and see them
like your eyes have hands
to touch them
say the names—aloud
of the places
where all your blood and bliss were sown
say the names
to your children, speak them,
so they can say them
back to you when you’ve grown old
© 2013 Jennifer Wagner
Kim Nelson invited us to write a
poem about The Places You Love inspired by Sherry Blue Sky’s poem Saying the Names with Love which was inspired by Al Purdy’s poem Say the Names. I wrote three, but the other two I am still
messing with so I am going to link this one to Verse First (very late) and to The Poetry Pantry. I was really moved by
Sherry’s and Al’s poems and when I had read them I immediately thought of a
recent trip I took to the Grand Coulee Dam.
I learned that during construction of the dam the reservoir flooded many tribal lands and cultural sites of the local American Indian tribes as well as
causing salmon and other fish to be unable to migrate. I know the dam is very valuable because of the hydroelectric
power it generates and irrigation it provides, but these words of Alex Sherwood
in this photo from the exhibit brought tears to my eyes. I kept going back to read them again. What if my most favored places, the most
meaningful to me in my history, were gone or severely altered? Or, as I have been doing some reading on memory
loss, what if it was me who was altered and could not remember “my” places? I also love the personification Alex gives
the river in his words. His words are poetic
to me. These are long process notes for
what is a short poem, so thanks for bearing with me if you stayed to read this
long! Maybe I’ll feel satisfied enough to
post the other poems I’ve written inspired by this prompt at a later date.
26 comments:
This is a beautiful poem Jenny! I really like the middle stanza as well as the idea of children saying the words back later.
I enjoyed reading your explanation too.
Never thought of my children as a storehouse of my memories. Interesting idea.
and see them
like your eyes have hands
to touch them
Oh! that is just brilliant!
I like the repetition - say the names ~ The backgrounder is a powerful material for writing and you have used them well ~ My hope is the children will find a deep connection to their land ~
say the names so your kids can say them back to you when you are old...that is the line that caught me...its like our stories...our kids need to hear them...and we need them to remind us once we can no longer remember them for ourselves...it gives identity
I like this, Jennifer. It is so important that children are told the old stories so that they will know them when their parents are no longer around. Names of places important to the family genealogy. Names of people. Everything. And yes, to speak them back when parents have grown old, for sure. Funny aside: I told my grandson a particular story from my childhoood a few times just so HE would remember it. Last time I started to tell him this story he said to me, "Grandma, you have told me that at least five times." Ha. Well, at least I know he remembers.
This is just lovely!
Very nicely done, Kim. Yes, I have also read Sherry's poem...loved both :))
It's a good idea to leave a legacy of love so that it comes right back to you in tough times :). Lovely poem.
It's one of the best things about gathering with our families - our shared history. The places and things we've done together that bind us even when we are thousands of miles apart. This was beautiful!
I love your poem especially the closing. It is the idea of leaving a record so our children (family) continue our connection. beautiful.
I so love this Jennifer. As I get older I realize how important it is--this oral history of our lives--
just beautiful!
Jennifer, you must know how deeply I resonate with this post - the beautiful poem (especially "see them as if your eyes have hands to touch them" and the part about our children repeating the names to us later......cool! Love your process notes and where the prompt took you. Deeply relevant writing. Reverent, also. I love it.
This piece brought back to me, so poignantly, the plethora of stories shared with me by family members in my childhood, many of whom are now gone - though their words still resonate and inspire and inform my thoughts, to this day. I agree with Sherry, there is reverence in this. Nicely done, Jennifer.
Oh this really spoke to me! Beautifully written and felt. There are so many places that are endangered because of global warming too, but no one talks about that! Lovely thought-provoking poem!
This is beautiful Jennifer. I loved the stories my parents shared with me and I in turn shared with my children.
A place that you feel you belong to; its name evokes so many emotions not only of the past but also of the present as well as the future. Beautifully penned. Loved it. :)
chanting and enchanting, Jennifer
this is wonderful..
...River, do you remember us? Wow - that struck me as well. I love both your poem and notes...
and yours "say the names where blood and bliss were sown..."
This is my favorite thing about poetry, that the places we visit, the things we learn about can be brought to life, again. I wrote a poem "The Ferryman" & "Laundry Days" after reading a book by a co-worker of my husbands. It was about his family history (started out as verbal stories for his sons...). The location is now underwater, a dam has been built - but he took a boat and went over the exact sight where his grandmother used to wash clothes, where his aunts and uncles used to swing over the river on the willow branches...
Yes, we need to turn off the tv, social media, and tell stories and remember ... around a campfire. (will add s'mores to the grocery list this week :)
the end is brilliant.
Your words are wonderful....makes you think and be a little afraid. The one by Alex shouts heartache. I wrote a poem on this subject once and it actually saddened me.
Jennifer, I spent a lot of time in the Southwest and read a lot of books written by Native Americans. They had such a sense of oneness with the world. That excerpt does make me want to cry. When you spend days in the back country, you start to get this sense, and its magical. A beautiful poem. :-)
That is such a beautiful creation... so heart-felt. I could feel the sincerity of your words. These dams have demolished many villages. It is not good, yet it is necessary. There is peculiarity that exists between moral values and technological development... and we are more focused on the latter one.
I know the Grand Coulee Dam! I grew up on the Snake and the Clearwater and rode those rivers on logs and inner tubes so many times I can't begin to count. I remember the one time i visited that dam, stared at the stupidity of the fish ladders and cringed at the effects of nitrogen cavitation on the fish. The Salmon and Steelhead whose life cycles were decimated by the presence of that dam. Oh this is a great poem to me and now I'm having a hard time seeing to make this comment.
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