Frank G. Karioris
To Celebrate Life Together
What holidays do magpies celebrate for they must have
their own not only because they do not celebrate ours but
because all creatures need to know the days maybe it is the
first day of autumn when the smell of grass is replaced by that of
the leaves beginning to fall or maybe it is the day when the
brush freezes through the afternoon for the first time or when a
new bud emerges from under the past year’s detritus & brings back
new colors to the landscape or maybe they celebrate holidays
every time a member of their tiding passes away or do they
celebrate every day as a holiday unto its own recognizing that
a day alive is enough of a reason to become a holiday
I don’t know what days the magpies celebrate as their holidays
all I know is that I wish to celebrate with them as I wish to celebrate
with all those around me to hold in the wishes of a moment shared
with love whether it is a holiday of joy or struggle or mourning
we should be there together the magpies are our neighbors
& I wish them to join in our holidays with us to sit at our table
& share in a feast to cry with us for those who are gone to
scream passionately of the struggles of life to embrace the joy
together & hold the sky with stars & fireworks & rain & tears
I will invite them tomorrow to join me in a new holiday we
create a day of simply being alive a holiday of seeing family
in the branches of trees & in the wind’s warming voice I hope
they will join as I hope all the others all who surround us will.
Frank G. Karioris‘s work has appeared or is forthcoming in Pittsburgh Poetry Journal, Collective Unrest, Riverstone, Sooth Swarm Journal, as well as in the zine Eco-Justice for All!, a project initiated by Poet Laureate of Allegheny County Celeste Gainey. An educator based in Philadelphia, they were a W.S. Merwin Fellow at the Community of Writers 2023 Poetry Program in Olympic Valley, California.
Indolent Books and editor Michael Broder are back with another poem-a-day series as a creative response to the threat posed to our democracy by the current presidential administration. The plan is to continue for all 1460 days of the 47th American presidency.
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