Thursday, July 23, 2015

Special Feature Collaborative Poem--By Wale Owoade--Nigeria and Laura M. Kaminski--United States

After a Generation

By Wale Owoade and Laura M. Kaminski

After a generation of listening
to wind tapping out its words
in softened Morse upon leaves,
this tree is ready, trained
sufficiently in silence, practiced.

After a generation of listening
to silence that doesn’t flinch
to fading lyrics of furnace ghosts,
this street is cold, washed
the way gone bodies are.

After a generation of fading heat
this cold street still listens,
waits for the first of the wilderness
to return, the first refugee reclaimed
the voice of the first bird.

After a generation of fading calls
the first bird returned to the tree
rhythms recalled the lyrics of a blue song
the ghosts forgot to hug friends
the first bird preached a dream.

16 comments:

  1. Hello Wale and Laura. It was a delight reading and enjoying your collaboration. This is a well-written and artistic beauty that I'm sure many will enjoy. Thank you both for sharing and continued blessings!

    -MJ (www.tgbtgpublictions.com)

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  2. Dear Wale and Laura,

    Thank you for sharing this wonderful poem for Whispers. This is a artistic and seamless collaboration. Welcome to our online journal Wale! I hope you enjoy your time spent here. Best wishes to both of you.

    Blessings,
    Karen

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  3. Thank you Maurice, Maureen, and Karen -- this is our first collaborative poem together, and I hope we'll have the opportunity for many more. -- Laura M Kaminski

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    1. Wonderful debut Laura and Wale! Again, congratulations!

      Karen

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  4. Beautiful poem Laura and Wale! Welcome to Wale, and gratitude to Laura for bring Wale to Whispers! I'm gonna go look/listen for the first bird....

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    1. Michael! Thank you so much for reading and commenting! And if you hear that first bird, do let us know...we are, frankly, in need of hope at home. - Laura

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  5. This is such an inspirational write! I surely loved reading this delightfully magnificent poem here this evening. You both have presented such wonderful words. What an awesome piece, great work,

    Russell

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  6. Thank you everyone for reading and making beautiful comments. Karen, thank you for publishing this piece, I hope to make here my home too.

    Regards,
    Wale Owoade.

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  7. Dear Wale,

    I hope you will be submitting a poem and bio soon. It would be good to have more of your poetry to share with our readers. Best wishes to you.

    Sincerely,
    Karen

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  8. Wale and Laura,
    I love the way you start each stanza with "after a generation" and get all creative after that... Great poem! Welcome to Whispers, Wale!
    Your new friend,
    David Fox

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  9. Thank you, each and every one, for reading and commenting. Deeply appreciated. I love the sense of community here at Whispers! - Laura

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  10. Thank you, James Chavula, for the following--

    It's great work with its imagery where it belongs: the rich place

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  11. Hey... Sometimes I hate it when I simply have to say 'Fine poem' but what does one say over here? Wale and Laura, this really is lovely. A big welcome Wale... Hmmm, we are waiting to see more of your magic which the other platforms keep revealing.

    Laura, thanks for bringing him :)

    I hope to read more. Cheers!

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  12. Welcome to Whispers Wale and this is a magnificent collaboration with Laura. I truly enjoyed the write and look forward to more of your collaborations.
    Charlene

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  13. A beautiful poem and a wonderful collaboration! :)

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