Ode to Everything
by Marjorie Maddox
Enough of the lamentations.
Open the window and sing!
The world is awash with
world: color-dripping globe always
tilting into some Ah! or another,
clouds stretching wide plump happiness,
even in the noisy stage-show of showers,
such sunny ovations.
And the birds—
overpopulating every poem—
swoop here for free—
swallow, hawk, robin, gull, eagle—what else
can be written but wings that wave
horizon to horizon?
And enough of windows.
Praise doors! Step out
with arms open, and eyes gathering
vim and vision: grandeur
trailing from worm and woodchuck,
branch puzzles of woods, open boat of breeze—
all brimming with Hey!
and Hallelujah!
and Celebrate! such green giving
of thanks, such miraculous mercy of earth:
calm valley and even this rugged, rocky chain
we climb now as family, claiming praise as respite,
holding close each breaking day, dangerous
yet divine in all
its gorgeous glory.
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On of my more hopeful poems and one previously published in Plough, “Ode to Everything” reminds me to slow down, look around, and be grateful. As a writer, I often wrestle in my work with challenges or struggles. In the midst of such poems, though, I need to leave room for odes.
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MARJORIE MADDOX has published 17 collections of poetry, a story collection, and four children’s and YA books. She is a Professor Erita of English at the Lock Haven Campus of Commonwealth University. marjoriemaddox.com