Advent Calendar Day 6 - November 17
Excerpts from Poetry in Dangerous Times by Demetria Martínez & Susan Sherman
Plus, today only, get 17% off this title in our bookstore—no code required.
About Poetry in Dangerous Times
“Perhaps this is just what we need now, now in these ‘Dangerous Times’: to hold onto a certain sanity found in truth-telling, if for no other reason than to inspire more truth—of histories forgotten, old-school knowledges reawakened, of movements that matter(ed), of loving that deepens wordlessly with aging. All this is found on these pages and within the years between Susan Sherman and Demetria Martínez. Theirs is a poetics that speaks to the privilege and burden of walking one’s truth.”
—Cherríe Moraga, author of Native Country of the Heart
Blessing Poem at the Emergency Room
Bless the paramedic, Cristina
Who placed her hand
On my shoulder
And whispered
It’s OK, breathe
Bless the nurse
Whose name I forget
Who broke the rules
And charged my phone
So that I could tell
My sister that I am
Among the living
Bless Dr. Sodenberg
Emergency room doctor
Who had me adjust
My mask then gave me
A hug
Bless the little boy
Who lost a layer
Of skin on his left hand
At a baseball game
I promised his mother
I would pray for him
She smiled
It was all I could do
Sometimes
It is all I can do.
(Demetria Martínez)
The Tears of Things
Will they cry for us when we have gone
the objects that adorn our lives
When we have left will they miss our touch
our need for them
Do they know they are the chosen ones
or do they fear we will tire of them
set them aside bound as they are by our desire
not theirs
A ball point pen white with gold bands
imported from France birthday gift
from a beloved friend A fountain pen
sun yellow with black enamel tip
Relics of an earlier age
Forty Oz books hidden from prying eyes
Well-worn novels books of religion
philosophy the occult long out of print
All those books we hold dear have kept through years
with leather bindings colorful illustrations
childhood dreams
The magazines we treasure worthless to others
A college t-shirt now sizes too small
A pair of boots useless but prized
A turquoise necklace from an old lover
too full of memories to wear
All the things we refuse to throw away
Each one holding a piece of our past
No longer here people may cry for us
but even those who hold us dear
at a certain point move on Our objects
belong to us alone We have left part of ourselves
behind in them
Lacrimae rerum: the tears of things
Do they love us as we love them
Will they weep for us when we have gone
(Susan Sherman)
Read more of these poems—as well as an extensive dialogue between these two incredible women—in POETRY IN DANGEROUS TIMES, by Demetria Martínez and Susan Sherman.
Get 17% off this title until midnight Mountain time tonight, Monday, November 17.
About the Authors
As a journalist, Demetria Martínez covered the journey of two Salvadoran women seeking sanctuary in the United States. She ended up being charged with conspiracy against the government. Evidence brought against her in court included the poem she wrote about the migrants. Martínez was ultimately acquitted on First Amendment grounds, and the experience inspired her widely translated novel Mother Tongue.
Susan Sherman took up activism in an earlier era—protesting fascism, McCarthyism, and the Vietnam War both in the streets and in print. She founded IKON magazine and wrote award-winning poetry to speak to the feminism emerging at that time. She also served as the poetry editor for The Nation and The Village Voice and wrote the acclaimed memoir America’s Child: A Woman’s Journey Through the Radical Sixties.