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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.