Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Tuesday poem #355 : Chad Sweeney : Simple Poem About Living with Autism in the 21st Century



1.

when I look out
from the porch yes
I see a crowd gathered again
bearing torches a meadow
in the dark the faces
luminous the eyes
luminous and beautiful like everything
to me so bright to feel
lonely for company I go into
the noise smiling and trying
the words hello I love you and welcome
and wheretobegin and thankyou I am
happy to see your face
among the faces this
rope you offer I take it
in friendship


2.

whenIlookoutfromtheporchyesIsee
thecrowdgatheredagainyesbearingtorchesame
adowluminousinthedarkthefacesluminousthee
yesandbeautifuleverythingtomesobrighttofeel
lonelyforcompanyIgointothenoisesmilingtrying
helloloveyouwelcomewhere
tobeginthankIamhappythanktoseeyou
rfaceyesamongthefacesthisr
opeyouofferItakeitasfriendship




Chad Sweeney has published six books of poetry, including Little Million Doors (Nightboat Books, winner of the Nigthboat Books Prize, nominated for Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award), Parable of Hide and Seek (Alice James), Arranging the Blaze (Anhinga) and Wolf’s Milk (bilingual Spanish/English, Forklift Books)—as well as two books of translation, The Art of Stepping Through Time, the selected poems of Iranian dissident poet, H.E. Sayeh (White Pine, with Mojdeh Marashi) and Pablo Neruda’s final book, The Call to Destroy Nixon and to Advance the Chilean Revolution (Marick, 2019). His work has been featured in Best American Poetry, the Pushcart Prize Anthology, Poets and Writers, Verse Daily and the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day.  He has edited two books including Days I Moved Through Ordinary Sounds, an anthology of poetry and prose by teachers in the national WritersCorps (City Lights) and Monahsetah, Resistance, and Other Markings on Turtle’s Back, Poetry and Prose by Mohawk elder Maurice Kenny (Mongrel Empire Press). Sweeney holds an MFA from San Francisco State University and a PhD from Western Michigan University. He is an associate professor of English/Creative Writing at California State University San Bernardino and lives in Redlands with his partner, Jennifer K. Sweeney and their two little boys. 


the Tuesday poem is curated by rob mclennan

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