Praise Poem for the Ordinary by Marjorie Maddox

Praise Poem for the Ordinary

For the pebble, the worm, the clothesline,
the warm bread, the simple turn of head
that says, “I hear you,” the burr that lets go
on its own, the bluebird that returns to perch
where the dogwood’s blossoms glow, the dim
light outside, the bright light within, the low
hum of hope when the unseen grows deep
in the hole you’ve dug in dry dirt
on an ordinary afternoon
just this side of Eden’s
repeated hallelujahs.

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English Professor at Commonwealth University, Marjorie Maddox has published 14 collections of poetry (most recently Begin with a Question and the ekphrastic collections Heart Speaks, Is Spoken For and In the Museum of My Daughter’s Mind) + the prose collection What She Was Saying; children’s books; an anthology on PA. www.marjoriemaddox.com