Sample Poetry
Poems are copyright of Emily K. Bright.
Morning of the Funeral
Sanibel Island, Florida
After all this, there is sun.
Sun and utter stillness
in the mangroves.
Here, five years ago, in rented canoes,
we brought her on her last
outdoor adventure.
How can it look the same as then?
Humid, tangled roots,
acres of connecting branches.
David with the guidebook spots
gray bird after large, gray bird.
How selfish to be hot or tired now.
These past five years,
her back, her fingers curved
in on themselves.
When she still could lift herself
in and out of boats, did she skim
palms to water as we moved?
All I can remember
is the dip and rise of paddles,
the aisles forming in the roots.
A pelican swoops down
and surfaces with
water streaming.
All day he will fish and look,
after we have sung our hymns,
after we have dragged our boats ashore.
Sunday's Theme
for James Wright
The people of your poems love each other
indirectly. Offering coins, their moonlit
faces. Not receiving too much credit.
Like the man at work today who answered
"how are you?" with "blessed." I thought,
that's not an answer to the question.
Afterward, I spent the day remembering:
I'm alive and breathing, drinking tea with
cinnamon, I’m wearing clothes and shoes.
All day that was beautiful. Later afternoon,
the crew team growing wings of mist beyond me
on the Mississippi, each man's stroke and strain
of back a promise to his boat-fellows, a steady
line to shore. Someone else can speak about
the heart of love. I’ll keep its faithful mysteries.
Skies above this evening, and footsteps at the door.