This was part of a family glow.

“This little light of mine” was part of a family glow.
When I was a child,
if any one of us excelled at math,
placed into a gifted class,
got A’s or was photographed for the town paper,
won prize for a debate or poetry,
jumped farthest in the long jump pit,
somehow the trumpets at our home were muted,
blared from distant walls. (Thank goodness, that!)
Parental praise was spare,
not out of anything other than the knowing
that there is so much else being always done and quietly, and well,
ever unsung.

And, too, that worldly honors were like sparkles on a lake, no more.
And, too, I was a twin, a girl,
everything shared unless there were two, one pink, one blue.
The house I grew up in did not give rise to any great ambition.
We sang warm in harmony Life’s song.

Yet there has burned in me since I was young as 5 or six
a writer’s solitary fire, and wild delight in poetry,
a wish to set them free, all of the flaming birds sprung from my pen,
and watch them soar in common skies,
delighting not just me.

So our dear writing group is this for me; our public reading, more—
A place to set poems loose from notebook, let them singing rise
and find lives of their own.

You know the warrior’s stance in yoga?
How, legs in deep lunge position, shoulders back,
one’s arm extended becomes sword,
that’s pointing toward unfailing mark?
How if one chooses to inhabit fully warrior stance
one can become slayer of dragon, savior of realm?

Just so did bumbling, sleepy, lazy, slouching I inhabit reader’s stance:
all force aligned toward one bright goal,
setting poems free from me.

It was a loving group, a family
I’ve grown up and into,
One that celebrates each shining.

G'Mar Chatima Tova

I close with this customary greeting whose literal meaning is: "a good final sealing."  I will add to that:  May you know the love of which you are made.  What better than to know this? 

With gratitude,
Ani

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