Poets’ Corner: Rosemerry on Thanksgiving!

24 Nov Poets’ Corner: Rosemerry on Thanksgiving!

“Things will look different this year.” Variations on that sentiment have become imbedded in the lexicon of the COVID pandemic and, with cases surging across the country, increasing stringent precautions have or are impacting virtually every traditional celebration in 2020, bleaching them of the joy.

But maybe not completely.

The following poems by Telluride’s Word Woman Rosemerry Trommer serves as a cogent reminder why “thanks” should still be part of Thanksgiving. Yes, even today. And, according to an article in Time Magazine, “being thankful is strongly linked with both mental and physical health – and can help relieve stress, depression, and addiction, among other conditions.” Jess sayin…

Word Woman Rosemerry Trommer, courtesy reallife photographs.

Thanksgiving

Perhaps that is when Thanksgiving
matters most—when you
walk the empty street alone,
scarred and scared and unsure.
That’s when giving thanks
becomes less of an abstract and more
like the way to take the next breath—
something that seems elusive, but
in fact it’s essential, and it’s right there,
just waiting for you to meet it,
to open yourself, to let it in.
Yes, for now it feels worthy of thanks
that the air is cool and clean and feels
good in the lungs, and the feet know
to walk you closer toward yourself
and the day holds you, holds you
in its soft gray arms, throws
a carpet of dry leaves at your feet,
suggests you keep walking into your life.