Title: Considering Finality during Winter Solstice
Like many artists, I write poems in reaction to what I encounter in everyday life. I also reflect a good deal about quality-of-life issues, our political climate and how we as a species interact with the rest of life on earth. “Considering Finality during Winter Solstice� was written after reading a number of news articles about people dying unexpectedly young or being killed over hatred or prejudice at around winter solstice.
Death swung its scythe like an unbridled teenager And wheat in golden hue alight from their rooted shoots The sky furrows befuddled with its forehead of gray Has someone gone on a year-end bender? Did shivers from cold require reactive calisthenics? The questions hang like foggy breath on cold dusk air Congeal as blood shrinking from mournful news Some ends arrive though we wish time would break Others crawl sloth paced While anguish induces prayers for haste Still the dark angel cloaks its purpose Or regresses in tantrums befitting this age We haven't the clearance required for clarity The declassification is left to those more privileged Our fate relegates to divining through potions Stirring pots bubbling over with insecurities The assured finality the only guarantee Though still off-putting weighted against Minuscule odds for enormous gains
_______________________________________________ IMOGEN ARATE is a Phoenix-based Poet and the Executive Producer and Host of Poets and Muses, a weekly poetry podcast where she chats with poets about their inspirations. Since its inception in December 2018, Imogen has interviewed over 60 poets, from diverse social-economic backgrounds both in the United States and abroad. As a poet, she has written in verse since her tween years, in four languages and published in two (English and French). While Imogen has always utilized poetry as a vehicle for self expression, she has also found it to be an effective therapeutic tool in coping with a recent trauma. Currently, Imogen is working with the Narrative Medicine & Health Humanities Program at the University of Arizona College of Medicine (Phoenix), Phoenix Youth Poet Laureate program and Oh My Ears through Poets and Muses as a collaborative partner.