Poetry Contest Entry

[Ralph Copleman]

Hi,

This is a poem about how open space has been showing up for me.

Ralph Copleman

____

I¹ve Been Telling Jokes to My Mother


To tell a joke
to my very old mother,
to tell it well,
I have to hold it
in the telling, hold it
in the timbre of my voice,
hands, the angle of my face,
and hers, too,
for she watches just so
as I point to the signposts.
As she comes around each one.
She gives me small signals,
so we make the little turns together,
me just ahead
and her a flicker later.
And if as always,
she falls a little behind
she knows I will wait for her
making little circling sounds
to show her the way back.
And I and my mother and the joke
make a space

Let it unfold,
renew our promise
in this tenuous embrace
of our breaths just above the tabletop.
>From the center let us evoke laughter
here in the mist around our eyes.
Let it reach back to us both
now in a moment of love
until again
she is gone.

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