Poetry Month at The Bridge
Posted on 4/22/2011 by The Bridge
The Bridge Poetry Workshop meets twice a week and has been headed by Patricia Thackray, Director of Bridge Poetry Workshops, for the past 25 years. Recently the workshop has been creating a communal poem based around the simple act of one of it’s members inadvertently leaving their black coat in the middle of the group’s table. This poem was woven, amended, trimmed and altered by many minds and voices – all 19 of the members of poetry workshop. In this work, the poets illustrate how an everyday object can be imbued with meaning.
The Coat
Without a pattern. There is no coat. There is no poem. - Scott Zwerin, workshop member
Why you forget about your coat—
dark secretive note?
Tossed with defiance on the long white table,
texturing light into darkness.
Shadow with its own shape,
body of land the spirit
left there to lean on.
Coded fragments in disguise:
Lifestyle of today’s distance?
Fabrication of my psychosis?
You ought to be wrapped round someone;
someone grateful for such a coat.
Instead, you lay spread-eagled on the table—
innards exposed—
not even a fur!
Poor coat:
can’t mend or fend for itself:
no eye for beauty,
no nose for fragrance.
Mindless (But hey, I’m not sure
what a mind is for—
are you?)
I imagine you to be made by a man.
like the one my father gave me.
He only wore it on Sundays.
I’d a feeling it was going to feel warm.
And it did.
Warm coat, warm coat:
You’re all I need,
all I need, indeed, indeed!
You could hide the inner me:
security blanket for the heart and lungs,
zippers and pockets to hide secrets in.
Such a Coat:
command it to rise
and it will!
Feathered and full as a majestic bird!
Restored:
no longer that old, faded image of myself.
Blessed Coat:
I’ll wrap you round me and we’ll fly off to Somewheresville.
Shadow, cloth, coat:
Windblown or thrown—
Awaiting the next moment,
Content to be here,
like a cloud,
a hill,
the warm sun.
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18 Response to "Poetry Month at The Bridge"
This is not the first time they have created a communal poem. We have previously mentioned I Want! I Want! which was another fantastic collaboration where each client contributed a few lines, then as a group they all work-shopped the poem to refine it. Click here to view: http://thebridgeny.blogspot.com/2009/12/tis-season-to-want.html
the voices from The Bridge sing out & inspire us to appreciate the warp & weave of our everyday lives; the things we take for granted take on a new meaning of appreciation & grace & demand to be noticed.
Brava to Pat Thackray for knowing how to weave the woof & warp into such a bespoke tapestry of a poem that is more like a wail than a sigh. . . the workshop is unique.
This is beautiful, so vivid. I often tell my students when they want to write about a person to write about their clothing. This is a beautiful example.
Hi.I liked your poem very much. It triggered memories from my childhood and It reminded me of how powerful the subconscious is and how easy it is to forget about it in our daily demanding civilian lives. Thank you.
These poems are inspiring. Thanks for the work
This and the other poems are very heart felt and touching. I received the blog on Mother's Day which I think was very apt since creativity is the mother of love and healing. thanks so much!
Wow! What a pleasure to read. It speaks, it sings, it winds around my throat, it eludes me, it beckons me. I look forward to reading a lot more!
What a wonderful poem! I will never see my coat in the same way again.
Loved the poem. I'm imagining all the different people who contributed, each a creative flourish, creating a seamless multifaceted poem that touched my imagination. Thank you, Pamela Yates
Beautiful and heartfelt!
this is terrific stuff. Give us more!!!
Wow what a beautiful poem!!! So much lovely pretty imagery and also a lot of naked truth. Keep up the good work!
Truly inspiring! You give us the glasses through which to see the world in its reality!
Thank you!
With love,
Francois
"Not sure what a mind is for?" This is what! Making sense of the senseless; seeing life in the lifeless; making one thing into many--a coat of many minds. Wonderful!
Wow! Patricia Thackray obviously has a true sense of the people in her groups and how to bring out the best in them. The poems that are created are unique and real and poetic and creative and just plain wonderful. Bravo to Ms. Thackray and everyone who collaborated in creating these works of art.
This is a poem so full of wonderful rich imagery and textures and all from the starting point of an abandoned coat! Alistair Boyd (Lewes, UK)
What a coat! What a poem! What a pleasure! Looking forward to a lot more of this written journey to the unknown and the familiar.
This poem is an amazing creation. Here's hoping there's a lot more to come.
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