Our own
A poem by Catrice Greer
One Wednesday a month through Story Summit, we offer a complimentary free-writing session for women called We See You, We Hear You. It started in January 2021, when writers were still sequestered by the pandemic, and the sense of isolation was extreme.
Now, more than three years later, we’re still at it, providing a much-needed writing community for women. For two hours each month, we supply a guided meditation and multiple writing prompts, and women share the five-minute free-writes they create as a result.
I’ve been overwhelmed month after month by the beauty, architecture, lyricism and soul-searing honesty of these five-minute writings from all the women who attend, including Catrice Greer.
Catrice’s writing is transcendent. Her language, cadence, and wisdom combine in ways that lift us out of our seats, as though we’re listening to a benediction or an overture. She finds the deepest and highest meaning in life and conveys it with a compassion that sometimes takes my breath away.
A resident of Baltimore, she’s a poet, artist, teacher, nature education docent, speaker for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), and a 2021 Pushcart Prize nominee. And that’s just the beginning. Even as I write this, she’s preparing for a 150+-member concert choir that will be performed this weekend.
And yet….she made time to write a poem in honor of Memorial Day so we could share it in the Story Summit community. She agreed to do it without hesitation, even though she’s in rehearsals for that massive concert.
Within a day and a half, Catrice wrote “Our own,” which she subtitled “poem of remembrance for Memorial Day.” It’s stunning, as usual. When I read it for the first time yesterday, it gave me wave after wave of chills. I’m honored to share it here with her permission.
Our own
poem of remembrance for Memorial Day
In every hue, ethnicity, united under one starry flag, undulating
stripes waving, marching through fiery discharge, seeking,
Victory? Peace? An end to discord?
Freedom. Secured.
Seven forces protecting liberty, our land, our borders
our lives; of those who pledged,
faithful to country and to cause
led by duty, courage, honor, integrity
someone’s fathers, sons, daughters, mothers,
served until they lost their own immaculate lives
a promise kept
Fallen in sacrifice
for us, for us,
The bugle will not sound Reveille for them to wake today,
Taps resounds in the hush of remembrance
we still remember them at the dawn
the final resting places
sloped with drapes of flowers, wreaths, flags
on this day, we say thank you
we remember,
we remember for always
—Catrice Greer
I encourage you to read Catrice’s poem more than once and let yourself feel the meaning of every word as it speaks to you. If you’ve lost a loved one who has served our country, this may bring you some peace, and I hope you’ll feel the transcendence just as I do.
Catrice is now a co-facilitator for We See You, We Hear You. At times, we borrow a line from one of the women’s free-writes and employ it as a prompt. In that spirit, I encourage you to select a line from Catrice’s poem and use it as a prompt to explore your own transcendence. For instance….
“A promise kept…”
“In the hush of remembrance…”
“We say thank you…”
If you write something you’d like to share, please enter it in Comments.
Thank you to all who commented on my column last week about daydreams. I’d love to share them all, but I’ll highlight just a couple.
First, I love this comment from Lina Lambert, who is committed to fulfilling her daydreams of writing: “While employment provides financial security, daydreams provide so much more. Passion and purpose and unseen security.”
Well said, Lina! Passion and purpose and unseen security are a powerful trifecta. Often the things that support us most are those we can’t see, but we feel them at our core.
Also, I was delighted to read this from Jo Reese Nelson:
“My daydream was to make a difference in the world, from the time my mother shared church magazines with stories about poverty and people helping.
“In 1977, at age 28, doing participatory community development in a village in Egypt, I was asked to start a preschool, with village women leading it. By the end of a year, they had become literate and were running their own preschool. I realized I had done what I was supposed to do with my life already at 28, and had to ask ‘what do I do now?’
“I continued to work with tools of authentic participation, facilitating all kinds of groups and training others to do it.
“At age 75, I am still actively mentoring group process facilitators and my third book on the topic will be published in September. Not bad for a western Iowa farm girl!
“BTW, after 45 years there is still a preschool in that Egyptian village, run by village women!”
Wow! Kudos to you, Jo, for planting seeds that are still blooming 45 years later, and for lighting up the world with your gifts.
Isn’t that what our daydreams are all about?
I’m sending you all blessings for Memorial Day. And a special thank you to Catrice for sharing your bright light and powerful voice with us on this holiday weekend.
Deb
A note to all my subscribers and followers: Next week I’ll be announcing new benefits for paid subscribers of A Whole New World, including monthly Miracles presentations and audios of my guided meditations. I appreciate all my subscribers and hope to offer even more of what you need to discover a whole new world within you every day.
I’m delighted and honored to be part of the Iowa Writers Collaborative, and I encourage you to check out their columns.
Beautiful.