The RetroLounge Daily Poem Thread (Mon 12/5/05)

[RetroLounge]

Alive Together

Speaking of marvels, I am alive
together with you, when I might have been
alive with anyone under the sun,
when I might have been Abelard's woman
or the whore of a Renaissance pop
or a peasant wife with not enough food
and not enough love, with my children
dead of the plague. I might have slept
in an alcove next to the man
with the golden nose, who poked it
into the business of stars,
or sewn a starry flag
for a general with wooden teeth.
I might have been the exemplary Pocahontas
or a woman without a name
weeping in Master's bed
for my husband, exchanged for a mule,
my daughter, lost in a drunken bet.
I might have been stretched on a totem pole
to appease a vindictive god
or left, a useless girl-child,
to die on a cliff. I like to think
I might have been Mary Shelley
in love with a wrong-headed angel,
or Mary's friend. I might have been you.
This poem is endless, the odds against us are endless,
our chances of being alive together
statistically nonexistent;
still we have made it, alive in a time
when rationalists in square hats
and hatless Jehovah's Witnesses
agree it is almost over,
alive with our lively children
who--but for endless ifs--
might have missed out on being alive
together with marvels and follies
and longings and lies and wishes
and error and humor and mercy
and journeys and voices and faces
and colors and summers and mornings
and knowledge and tears and chance.

Lisel Mueller

************************************************

RL

[SeattleGirl]

1. Bravo, RL!

Thank you, again!

[RetroLounge]

7. Glad you like it.

:hi:

RL

[threehensandacow]

2. what are you doing,

trying to make me feel better?

[RetroLounge]

6. Always...

I do what little I can...

:hug:

RL

[miss_american_pie]

3. That is wonderful

Thank you.

[RetroLounge]

5. You are welcome

:hi:

RL

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. My dear RetroLounge....

How beautiful this is.......

I can, for obscure reasons, really relate to this one.

The random chance of love, of meeting and loving someone...this poem states it so very well.

Beautiful.....thank you...

[RetroLounge]

8. Good morning, my friend.

glad you like this one, I really do too.

:hug: :hi:

RL

[CaliforniaPeggy]

9. My dear RetroLounge....

If you would check your PM, please....I'm signing off now, but I'll be back later......To see what you have to say to me.

[RetroLounge]

11. Check your PM

and a great big :hug: to you...

RL

[CaliforniaPeggy]

17. I got it, and thank you, my dear RetroLounge.....

:hug: back atcha.....

[RetroLounge]

22. Again, PM coming your way

:hug:

RL

[Callalily]

10. Very touching and

moving poem. I'm so glad that you post these. I look forward to your selections every day.

[RetroLounge]

12. Glad you like these.

I will keep it up as long as people are reading them. And maybe even if they are not :D

:hi:

RL

p.s. where in our fair state are you?

[Callalily]

19. Hometown is

near Green Bay!

[Rising Phoenix]

13. I love this one...

thanks retro

[RetroLounge]

15. My pleasure...

Good to see you here in the poetry thread!

:hi:

RL

[bicentennial_baby]

21. me too sweetie

isn't it beautiful? :loveya:

[RetroLounge]

23. Hello!

Good to see you here my friend.

:hug: :hi:

RL

[bicentennial_baby]

24. Been away for a few days

as usual...3 days in heaven, sigh...and now back to my mundane M-F existence x(

:hi: :hug:

[LynzM]

14. Beautiful, thank you!

:) :hug:

[RetroLounge]

16. You are most welcome

:hug: :hi: :D

RL

[wildhorses]

18. thanks for posting these...I always read them but sometimes I

forget to post a comment....I especially "enjoyed" today's. They all seem to resonate...today's even more so

[RetroLounge]

20. Good to see you!

:hi:

RL

[RetroLounge]

25. After DInner Poetry Kick

:kick:

RL

[RevCheesehead]

26. The "guest room" is always open....

And, of course, there's Oshkosh, Appleton, Fond du Lac....
or even Lambeau Field.

:loveya: