SAMURAI SONG
by Robert Pinsky
When I had no roof I made
Audacity my roof. When I had
No supper my eyes dined.
When I had no eyes I listened.
When I had no ears I thought.
When I had no thought I waited.
When I had no father I made
Care my father. When I had no
Mother I embraced order.
When I had no friend I made
Quiet my friend. When I had no
Enemy I opposed my body.
When I had no temple I made
My voice my temple. I have
No priest, my tongue is my choir.
When I have no means fortune
Is my means. When I have
Nothing, death will be my fortune.
Need is my tactic, detachment
Is my strategy. When I had
No lover I courted my sleep.
VESSEL
By: Robert Pinsky
What is this body as I fall asleep again?
What I pretended it was when I was small --
A crowded vessel, a starship or submarine
Dark in its dark element, a breathing hull,
Arms at the flanks, the engine heart and brain
Pulsing, feet pointed like a diver's, the whole
Resolutely diving through the oblivion
Of night with living cargo. O carrier shell
That keeps your trusting passengers from All:
Some twenty thousand times now you have gone
Out into blackness tireless as a seal,
Blind always as a log, but plunging on
Across the reefs of coral that scrape the keel --
O veteran immersed from toe to crown,
Buoy the population of the soul
Toward their destination before they drown.
Halloween
On the first page of my dream book
Its always evening
In an occupied country.
Hour before the curfew.
A small provincial city.
The houses all dark.
The store-fronts gutted.
I am on a street corner.
Where I shouldn’t be.
Alone and coatless
I have gone out to look
For a black dog who answers to my whistle.
I have a kind of Halloween mask
Which I am afraid to put on.
A Secret Warrior
By- Nicole Huber inspired by Robert Pinsky
When I had no friends, I cried,
When I had them, I laughed
When I had no home, I ran,
When I lost my balance, I got back up,
If I lost my eyes, I listened,
When I couldn’t sing, I danced,
When I couldn’t dance, I sang,
When I had no talent, I cried,
When I had no family, I made the world my family, When I had no room, I created space.
When I had no church, I prayed,
When I had no feet, I crawled,
When I lost my mind, I cried.
When I had no food, I drank the rain,
When there was no rain, I ate the sand.
When I am ungrateful, gratefulness will be my enemy,
When there was no chance of survival, I survived.
Hero
By Nicole Huber- Inspired by Robert Pinsky
What is this body as I fall asleep again?
Is it the same, as I wanted it to be when I was young?
A girl who could live on an island and survive forever?
Deep in a jungle filled with your friend tigers and wolves—
Arms like paddles, beating anyone in the race,
Skimming through the water, being a fish, breathing the water.
Slamming into tree trunks, being able to get back up? The one who could keep you guessing, but secretly didn’t know the answer,
Always a troublemaker,
On the outside of my cage,
Out of a jungle and into a cave,
Never being afraid to look and see what is inside.
Across the seas, being the princess of the world. Nothing could stop me now.
I was invisible in my childhood, everything went my way and my mind soared, I was superior, But now I realize that I can’t be invisible, for I am not a child anymore.
Alone
On the first page of my dream book
There’s always fog
In an unknown land.
Trying to get away,
Being choked by a collar,
around my neck,
In a broken-soggy box
People walk by and turn their heads,
When walked past, the meat man puts the sign up for closing.
I am too small,
For begging,
I’m always there
Alone and forgotten
I’m here to look
For a family I can’t have,
I am all alone,
9 minutes till my owner comes,
I am afraid, and alone,
For I am just a dog.