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Sarah Van Arsdale

National Poetry Writing Month

Click here to see my first poem of the month, inspired by the article by Melissa Hart on National Poetry Writing Month: Insider: National Poetry Writing Month - The Writer (writermag.com). I'm jumping in, too.


April 1, 2022


Endings aren’t the problem

it’s beginnings that are hard,

beginnings, and the middle of things.


The ends take care of themselves,

braiding strand over strand,

the tail tied tight with a rubber band.


Everyone dying seems to curl

into a parenthesis: Diana, my mother,

the cats I put to sleep.


A life closes in upon itself at the end.

Deeds dated and signed,

divorces decreed. That’s it. So long.


Waiting for the response from a sister

who once could have been a friend.

The lack of a word back marks the end while the minutes tick.


It’s beginnings that stump me:

where to set my foot upon the mark

and how fast to sprint.


How to keep night’s long thrum

purring forward

into the new spring light.

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