{"id":3433,"date":"2020-04-08T00:00:35","date_gmt":"2020-04-08T04:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/?p=3433"},"modified":"2020-10-19T08:36:24","modified_gmt":"2020-10-19T12:36:24","slug":"april-8-maria-ibarra-frayre-a-comfort-for-lean-times-lean-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2020\/04\/08\/april-8-maria-ibarra-frayre-a-comfort-for-lean-times-lean-times\/","title":{"rendered":"April 8 – Maria Ibarra-Frayre – “A comfort for lean times — Lean times”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, April 8, 2020 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

During these demanding times the Work Day\/Hard Times List has been receiving more poems than usual. \u00a0 Their authors are women and men, adults and children. \u00a0They risk fresh language that often surprises us as we read and edit. \u00a0Perhaps a collective solitude and the pandemic\u2019s ominous portents \u2013 news of death and grief \u2013 opens our imaginations to the sheer beauty we hear and see around us. \u00a0\u201cWe are brave and beautiful,\u201d these moments seem to tell us: \u00a0\u201cBeautiful,\u201d\u00a0\u201cBrave,\u201d \u00a0and\u00a0\u201cBeloved.\u201d \u00a0 Our lives remind us that we are worth strong poems.<\/p>\n

Best to read Maria Ibarra-Frayre\u2019s contemplation of a pot of orchids on her window sill out loud, with pauses. \u00a0 \u00a0Have a blest day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

p.s.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In Detroit our pre-midnight offered us rolling thunder, punctuated by astonishing lightning bolts, enclosed in a strong hail storm.\u00a0 Had me leaning out my west window.\u00a0 Three hours later, I woke to fresh clear skies and an astonishing full moon.\u00a0 Such beauty!\u00a0 I lost some sleep gazing at it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post: \u00a0<\/strong>\u201cOrchids on a sill\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The orchids on my windowsill
\nDon\u2019t know the world
\nOn the other side of the glass is shattering.
\nTheir velvet, white and purple petals
\nDon\u2019t know
\nThat outside we can\u2019t touch
\nThe faces of our loved ones.
\nThat I haven\u2019t held the
\nHand of the person I love in seven weeks,
\nBut really it feels like seven lifetimes.<\/p>\n

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

My orchids,
\nSo gently unaware
\nThat everyday this week I\u2019ve spent
\nTwelve hours a day in front of a computer
\nSifting through plans and names and stories
\nOf people who don\u2019t know how they will
\nPay rent, keep their lights on, or keep themselves safe.<\/p>\n

All I know is that I want to keep them safe.
\nSafe and nourished like the orchids
\nOn my window sill
\nSo full of blooms that it looks like they
\ncould topple over with joy.
\nTheir roots entangled with each other,
\nLeaning on the cold and smooth glass,<\/p>\n

A comfort for lean times.
\nLean times,
\nLike when all their button blooms dried
\nAnd only two bare stick-stems remained.<\/p>\n

They lost their color
\nI almost threw them out.
\nInstead, with doubt I dug the
\nNail of my index finger into the glossy long leaf.<\/p>\n

It bled.
\nBled enough to keep me from throwing it out.
\nA sign of life.<\/p>\n

Many months later, at their own pace, my orchids are blooming again.
\nUnaware that outside the world is bleeding.
\nHolding in their tiny pea-sized blooms
\na quiet trust that life will grow again.<\/p>\n

I walked by the orchids again this evening.
\nThey laughed at me in their secret delight,
\nSaying, \u201cWe do know. We are leading you into bloom\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

Maria Ibarra-Frayre
\nWriter, feminist, unapologetically undocumented<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, April 8, 2020 \u00a0 During these demanding times the Work Day\/Hard Times List has been receiving more poems than usual. \u00a0 Their authors are women and men, adults and children. \u00a0They risk fresh language that often surprises us as … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3433"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3433"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3655,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3433\/revisions\/3655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}