The Singer Within--By Maralee Gerke--United States

The Singer Within

I sang as a child,
all the bright songs of childhood.
At school I sang in the chorus.
I loved the sound of my voice,
alone and blended with others.
I was a singer.

Gradually, I gave up singing,
but inside my heart, the songs remained
reminders of the days when
I could shout out the words.

Now I sing my words onto the blank page
revealing myself.
Someday soon I’ll sing again.
Words will jump from the page
and fly from my lips
to fill the air with newly formed song,
the strong, lilting, melody of my reality.

Maralee Gerke lives and writes in Madras, Oregon. She is and avid reader and gardener. She describes herself as a work in progress. Her poems have been published in Calyx, Exit Thirteen, Moonset, Bathtub Gin, Anthology, Nerve Cowboy, Avocet, and Tigers Eye. She has published two books of poems and has had poetry and prose accepted in several anthologies. Her work can be seen online at Shadow Poetry, Long Story Short, and Moontown Café. She recently recorded 4 poems for the Oregon Poetic Voices Project. They can be heard at oregonpoeticvoices.org One of her poems( Refuge) was recently selected to be printed as a limited edition broadside by the Penland School of Crafts.