Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Wasn’t the celebration of Nikki Grimes and her works last Friday fabulous? I had a lovely time meandering through the posts all last weekend.
I’m busy this Poetry Friday with our older daughter’s wedding activities. She’s getting married Saturday to a fabulous guy, and though their wedding has changed into something totally different than originally planned, hopefully they will still feel all the love from the few people there and the many people sending wedding wishes from far away.
Today, I’m resharing “I Need You Need Me.” This is the closest poem I have to a love poem. This weekend, Annabelle and Eric braid one rope and combine their fates. On June 19, Juneteenth, we celebrate the end of slavery. But we still have so much work to do on that front, too. Our individual fate is braided together with all of humanity’s fate, and until we admit and recognize how much we all need each other (all of each other), I’m not sure real change will happen. So…here’s to needing each other.
Wednesday, I shared some refugee poems for World Refugee Day, which comes up on June 20.
And for lots of wonderful poetry, don’t miss the Poetry Friday Roundup with Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect.
Congratulations to Annabelle and Eric! So exciting to build your family and spread your love wider. We have a wedding in October. Not sure what it will look like. Such uncertainty. Have a wonderful weekend!
A beautiful poem Laura – perfect for a wedding. Congratulations to you, proud mom, and to the couple.
Laura, your poem is perfect for daughter’s wedding and for our world. I love how honest and confident your words are. I also love how your repetition and rhyme bring the reader back to the beginning, but you end in the most important line, “I need you need me.” It’s so late here I finally realized your magic of not repeating the words, “need, breath,” and “rain” because we automatically go back and reread them! You are a wizard.
Congratulations and have a wonderful wedding!
Well congratulations on a very special day in your family’s life. May the young couple live in love for their lifetime, Laura. Thanks for sharing more information on Juneteenth, a holiday that I just heard of. You poem has a wonderful format. I’ve read it several times to hone in on the different messages you are sending out.
This is a love poem in every sense of the word, Laura! “We braid one rope. Combine our fates.” – wow! Having braided with my hubby 31 years ago this week, I send my hearty congratulations to the bride and groom and a virtual hug to the mother of the bride. *cheers!*
Congratulations! I’m delighted for the joy your family is experiencing this weekend. What a love poem…what love to be able to give the gift of these words to your expanding family. Yes, we need each other. Love is always the answer, isn’t it.
Oh, Laura. I adored this one before and adore it now. Congratulations to Annabelle and Eric and all of you. It is a beautiful time for love. xxxx
Laura, your poem is a perfect love poem that I love! Congratulations to your daughter and her husband!
Congratulations to your family on your daughter’s wedding – joy to you all! How poignantly your poem speaks to our need for one another, our interdependence as well as nature’s … there’s a careful balance to it all, just as there’s a balance to your lines here. I think that admission, “I need you,” is the balance of the heart’s cry, “need me.”
Congratulations to your family. How wonderful to have such a joyful event to look forward to! And you clever poem, Laura, was just right. One half of the sentence needing the other.
Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! Have fun. And thanks for your clever poem showing how we depend on each other line by line in the words themselves and images.
Lovely! Thank you, and congratulations! Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
I hope all of you have a wonderful wedding weekend!
Congratulations to Annabelle and Eric. Thank you for sharing your beautiful love poem. xo
This is very special, Laura, for this wedding couple, for all of us! I saw some of your pictures on FB & know it’s already a wonderful time. Thank you for taking time to share with us on Poetry Friday!
Many Congratulations to Annabelle, Eric, You and your families, how exciting and marvelous! Like Linda I too enjoyed your prewedding pics on FB. Thanks for sharing your timely, sensitive poem–I think the world is calling for braiding “one rope,” xo
How wonderful to have something to celebrate, and what a beautiful love poem! “We braid one rope.” That says it all, doesn’t it? Congratulations on the wedding. I hope you enjoy the festivities in their revised form. (My son was supposed to get married late in May and all plans are still on hold at this point. )
Oh, Laura, so lovely. And congratulations to Annabelle and Eric!