{"id":3808,"date":"2021-03-05T09:47:30","date_gmt":"2021-03-05T14:47:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/?p=3808"},"modified":"2021-03-05T09:47:30","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T14:47:30","slug":"friday-march-5-susan-rooke-letting-go-the-taut-shine-of-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2021\/03\/05\/friday-march-5-susan-rooke-letting-go-the-taut-shine-of-youth\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday, March 5 – Susan Rooke “letting go the taut shine of youth”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday, March 5\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThen you relax your hand, and all the skin relaxes,
\nletting go the taut shine of youth . . .\u201d<\/p>\n

March 5 \u2014 this early day of March which, the saying goes, \u201ccomes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.\u201d \u00a0Whoever thought the saying first must have lived somewhere where March weather is fickle and tentative. \u00a0Blustery. \u00a0Surely not Tucson or Miami. \u00a0 Tentative weather months are the blessing of geographies where the tilt of the sun against the earth creates seasons rich with teasing, soft breezes swept away by 25 mph bluster. \u00a0The teasing sharpens the appetite for new flowers and fresh grass. \u00a0A great moment in the year for the Christian feast of Resurrection, thousands of tiny explosions of new life and improbable beauty.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s post comes from a\u00a0list that often expands my horizons (\u201cA Year of being Here: mindfulness poetry by wordsmiths of the here & now\u201d).\u00a0 Susan Rooke is new to me and, perhaps, to you. \u00a0Today\u2019s post, \u201cA Marriage in the Hands,\u201d can be read any day in any season of the year. \u00a0Understated love, so intimate. \u00a0It measures time in decades, not the rapid fire swirl of springtime energy only. \u00a0The story Susan Rooke tells fits our present situation \u2014 love without showy extravagances \u2014 \u00a0tender love \u2014 enduring love: a song of human intimacy. \u00a0Best to read the poet out loud, with pauses.<\/p>\n

Have a blest weekend,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

John sj<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post\u00a0\u2014 \u00a0<\/strong>Susan Rooke: \u201cA Marriage in the Hands\u201d
\n<\/a>Posted by Phyllis Cole-Dai on Mar 25, 2015 midnight<\/em><\/p>\n

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

You make a fist, that I might see
\nyour skin grow tight again,
\nsmoothed across your hand.<\/p>\n

Those big hands that you like
\nto joke are too heavy when carried
\nall day at the ends of your arms.<\/p>\n

Then you relax your hand,
\nand all the skin relaxes, letting
\ngo the taut shine of youth,<\/p>\n

and I see your sacrifice,
\nthe thirty years you\u2019ve held
\nus close, held my strength<\/p>\n

for me, and all your tenderness.
\nI put my own hand out, relaxed,
\npalm down, next to yours.<\/p>\n

You are aging, so am I, and this
\nis something we have sworn
\nalways to do as one. Undeniably<\/p>\n

I see we have. Then you make
\na fist again. I make my own.
\nAs one we smooth the way ahead.<\/p>\n

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

Susan Rooke<\/p>\n

Susan Rooke lives in Austin, Texas. \u00a0Despite her normal fa\u00e7ade, she\u2019s always been interested in the mysterious and odd, and has completed the first novel of a fantasy series.\u00a0Her work has appeared recently or is forthcoming in\u00a0The Texas Poetry Calendar 2013<\/em>,\u00a0Pulse: voices from the heart of medicine, San Pedro River Review<\/em>, and on Austin Capital Metro buses. \u00a0She and her husband of almost 30 years (who indulges her interests without subscribing to them himself), spend as much time in the mountains of West Texas as possible.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday, March 5\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThen you relax your hand, and all the skin relaxes, letting go the taut shine of youth . . .\u201d March 5 \u2014 this early day of March which, the saying goes, \u201ccomes in like a lion … 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\/3808"}],"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=3808"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3809,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3808\/revisions\/3809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}