Patsy Rahn’s poetry and prose is published in various journals and anthologies. Her book, The Grainy Wet Soul, is available from bookstores online. In 2021, she received the People's Choice Award from the 5th Open Eurasion Literary Festival of Festivals. Videos of her readings can be found on her website and You Tube.

Welcome to the Poets Weave. I'm Romayne Rubinas Dorsey. Patsy, what poems have you brought for us today?

Please Note: These poems are not for publication or reprinting.

Books


I believe in books
because someone is sharing with us
their imagination, their views,
and we share books with each other
borrow and loan, buy and gifting
they sit in our lives waiting
to be interacted with,
waiting for us to open
their eyes and listen to their
voices, their temper tantrums
their humor and their pathos,
we grow as they remain the same
year after year, century after century,
they know who they are,
they help us becoming.


evolution


the darkest time of the year
Christmas time and there is no snow,
I wear the two-toned turquoise scarf
I made my dad forty-five years ago,
My sister celebrates her 40th anniversary
with her husband who has begun dementia,
the pandemic is predicted to surge
from delta to omnivore
eating us alive,
binding us together while distancing us.
The weather is changing our earth
into a different planet
seasons vanishing,
new weather patterns emerging
emergencies enlarging
fires gorging, enflamed, engulfing,
tornadoes traveling two hundred miles,
rain walls falling from sky tumbling,
flooding waters rising so fast
we are in mortal danger
before our brain can grasp.
The new normal is tumbling around us
speeding up change we do not control,
how fast can we adapt?
no longer able to stop it,
how fast can we adapt?
for those who survive the pandemic,
a planet we do not know
is challenging us,
into what we will become.


Ode to joy


the gift of joy.
don’t need to win a million bucks
don’t need to fall in love,
it is in the tiniest of moments
we build a body full of joy,
almost to bursting
without trying
just receiving and responding,
joy bringing joy, adding joy,
nurturing joy, passing it along,
aging it like a wine, joy builds
with age, with accumulation,
with abandonment to its
joys.


In this moment of good night


In this moment
I say good night,
for all moments in time
I say good night.
This moment contains all moments
and in those moments
are contained all worlds
and I say good night to the future, forever
unfolding outward and
away from now,
possibly in all directions
forward, backward, in and out
up and down around
and somehow my
voice
saying good night
will one day be
heard in forever,
in every future
containing this moment
of good night.

the package

the body is so full of
liquid, flesh and bone
a neat package
containing nicely designed organs
held in place by brilliant
flexible sinews and structures,
and yet out of our mouths
come invisible words
and these sounds turn to
meaning
and the meaning moves us
to feel, think, act,
having tangible impact
on others, our environment, ourselves,
our bodies
so full of
liquid, flesh and bone.

You've been listening to poems by Patsy Rahn on the Poets Weave. I'm Romayne Rubinas Dorsey.