Bedspread By Lorna Goodison (Another Poem for Poetry Month)

Today, I am sharing Bedspread, Lorna Goodison's well-known poem about the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela. I did notice that a number of my blog readers appeared to be searching for this poem, and I thought I would share it, particularly since this is poetry month. I hope you will enjoy it. For more on Lorna Goodison and her work, please see my previous posts.

Bedspread

Sometimes in the still
unchanging afternoons
when the memories crowded
hot and hopeless against
her brow
she would seek its cool colors
and signal him to lie down
in his cell.
It is three in the afternoon Nelson
let us rest here together
upon this bank draped in freedom
color.
It was woven by women with slender
capable hands
accustomed to binding wounds,
hands that closed the eyes of
dead children,
that fought for the right to
speak in their own tongues
in their own land
in their own schools.
They wove the bedspread
and knotted notes of hope
in each strand
and selvaged the edges with
ancient blessings
older than any white man's coming.
So in the afternoons lying on this
bright bank of blessing
Nelson my husband I meet you in dreams
my beloved much of the world too is
asleep blind to the tyranny and evil
devouring our people.
But, Mandela, you are rock on this sand
harder than any metal
mined in the bowels of this land
you are purer than any
gold tempered by fire
shall we lie here wrapped
in the colors of our free Azania?
They arrested the bedspread.
They and their friends are working
to arrest the dreams in our heads
and the women, accustomed to closing
the eyes of the dead
are weaving cloths still brighter
to drape us in glory in a Free
Azania.

(From Selected Poems, The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor. 1992)

Copyright Lorna Goodison. Reprinted with the author's permission.

April is Poetry Month

Hi poetry lovers,

April is poetry month and so I am sharing some thoughts on activities you can do during this month. To kick things off, I will also share a poem from my just published collection, From Cane Field to the Sea. So, here are some ideas. I would love to hear from you on some things you plan to do during poetry month:

• Write a poem
• Share a poem with family, friends, colleagues
• Check out some poetry books from your library
• If you have always wanted to write poems, start working on your manuscript
• Purchase poetry books
• Check out some interesting poetry blogs
• Read poetry to your kids 
• Read a poem to your special someone
• Check out audio poems
• Attend a poetry reading or open mic activities in your area
• Find more poetry links and suggestions from the Poetry Foundation website.

I promised to share a poem from my just published collection, From Cane Field to the Sea. Below is The Road to Respect, originally published in Nursing Science Quarterly, relating to research on nurses' feelings of being respected or not respected.

The Road to Respect

I spoke.
You listened.
I felt valued and honored.
You shared your opinion.
I trusted your wisdom.
The circle of respect was complete.
We saw in each other's eyes our common humanity.
Now, moving to a zone of mutual affirmation,
we felt safe to trust, and learn, and nurture
in the give-and-take of life.

Copyright 2011 Yasmin Morais.

I hope you will find time to have fun with poetry during April. Stay tuned for a posting later on my poet of the month for April.