Backward Mutters

Poetry Pub’s November 3, Poem a Day Challenge prompt is a “Form Friday” prompt. The form is a Golden Shovel which you may read about HERE.

I’ve borrowed a line from Leslie Bustard’s poem, “Silver Spring Lake” which may be found online at The Poetry Pub in their second chapbook volume, titled, Perspectives. It is a beautiful poem about facing an uncertain future following her cancer diagnosis. Leslie passed away in April of this year. You may visit her website, Poetic Underpinnings for more of her work.

The line from her poem is: “…we come into an open expanse–.” You may listen to me read the poem via the player below.

"We Come to an Open Expanse"

The me and you that becomes we 
Begins in a sanctuary where you and I come 
Together, processing into the church to 
Speak words in covenant, joined in "an 
Honorable estate," "forsaking all others," not open
Nor open-ended, but till death open the expanse.

The me and you which death untied as we
Tangles in moments of memory, when I come
And grief breaks through and into the present to
Retranslate the hoped-for future into an
Age where you come to that lakeside, open-
Handed and release again what is, into the expanse.

One day, the me and you shall in Life become we
When the Spirit and the Bride say, “Come,
Come to the Table prepared for you! Come to
The “AT LAST” when filling fills not merely for an
Hour, but brings us into a spacious, open
Place where He fills us forever with Love’s expanse.

(c) Randall Edwards 2023