A Small Poem by Vievee Francis

31 Days of Poetry: Day 16.

For the month of August I’ll be participating in The Sealey Challenge and attempting to read a book of poetry every day (or at least a poem or two), and every day I’ll be sharing a poem with you. If poetry isn’t your thing, a month isn’t too long a time, I promise. But if it is, I hope this series affords you an opportunity to discover some new favourites or revisit some old ones.

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The 16th of August’s offering is ‘A Small Poem’ by Vievee Francis, which was first published in her 2016 collection, ‘Forest Primeval’ (TriQuarterly Books/ Northwestern University Press).

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A Small Poem
for Jen Chang and Martha

From a morning without expectations a surprise,
a word unanticipated and meant. Rare
and jarring. Syllables moving one to tears
when the winter sky is a simple blue, and nothing
is there to impede the dailyness of things. But
the word grows from a note a hello a salutation
and plants itself like a spring dandelion seed that by
afternoon is full grown and blowing more seeds,
lightly, sweetly, a coloratura of delight, and I
feel as if I were both the plucked and the child
plucking the stem and twirling. How a single word
can set the world turning from one moment into 
the next in startlement.

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As I read this poem, I automatically found myself thinking about all the different words that might conjure such unexpected delight and emotion. We all know that words matter and that the right words are so incredible powerful (the wrong ones, too) but the whimsical and rather romantic imagery of this poem so perfectly illustrates just how alive those words can make us feel and how they can so easily transform a moment, a day, and even an entire life.

See you on day seventeen,

Tasnim