until spit upon
a free verse poem for Becoming the Ones Who Can: Writing at the Edge of Collapse and the Root of Joy
“Some thing stirs/ In this one possibility/ The rising/ As in yeast/ Dormant/ Until spit upon/ With a bit of sugar and warm water” — Norma Wong, “When No Thing Works”
i awoke in Napoli this morning
boarded a fast train north
watched Vesuvio recede
to write this
poem now in Parma
someone is belching loudly into the night
below me
as Robert Smith sings
Strange as angels
Dancing in the deepest oceans
before the engine cuts
— after dinner we walked
new-to-us streets
past T.S. Eliot’s words
wrapped in Maurizio Nannucci’s blue neon
“Time Present And Time Past Are Both Perhaps Present In Time Future”
glowing along the Palazzo della Pilotta
where some immigrants had gathered beside fountains
to talk and smoke with one another
this being our last “first night”
the beginning of a final month of our year spent abroad
— we took to the road as strangers in strange lands
on purpose, because we could —
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& everything feels resonant
knowing i am soon to return to my country
with all that is brewing there
as it is here, and everywhere
spit upon
like Norma Wong tells us
and yeast remembers how to rise
i kept meaning to read about Vesuvio
all month in Napoli,
but Pompeii, the pizza, & visits to my lover’s
ancestral homelands kept my attention, until now
here in Parma, once again at a distance,
i am learning four possible
etymologies of Vesuvio which can mean:
unquenchable
hurling violence
the one who lightens
& finally, hearth
perhaps this is why the ancestor card i drew today was passion
because how can i end a poem like this? with all that burns? with all that is still good, even in the unforgiving brightness and warmth of what is burning?
it is a volcano of power
that we sit upon
whether we can notice it
or not
& ancient towns disappearing
are somehow still soft beside us
while the molten keeps working
to turn something else to life,
yet still
This poem is the first in a series titled, Becoming the Ones Who Can: Writing at the Edge of Collapse and the Root of Joy, a poetic collaboration for National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo) with Samantha Wallen and Michelle Puckett.
To read the next poem in the series click HERE.
Michelle Puckett, MFA is a poet, Social Justice Coach & Facilitator, permaculturalist, and Co-Founder of Creating Freedom Movements, a school for activists. All of her work aims to nourish the sacred and make it plain in everyday life.
