Margaret Moore

__________

Heartbeats of a Nation

 

And suddenly,

Poetry

Matters.

 

In a world

That neglects

To appreciate it,

That belittles it, asks

 

     “Why bother

With it?”

 

Suddenly,

They realize

That poetry

Matters.

 

Suddenly,

     Millions

Across the nation

Are in awe,

Drawn in,

In total

Captivation

As one young woman

Recites

Eloquent

     Verses.

 

Yes,

     Suddenly,

          Poetry

               Matters.

 

Suddenly,

Poetry matters.

 

What

Is it

That has made

     Poetry

Rise

To the top?

 

Why

Are they

Who once

Rebuked

The genre

And its craft

Now

Mesmerized,

     Suddenly buzzing

          Now

               Nonstop?

 

     Perhaps

Amanda Gorman’s

Lines

Resonate

With them,

 

Her words

     So bold,

          So brave,

               So fitting to a tee,

 

Reminding us

Of the unbreakable

     Strength

     And hope

That uphold

The U. S. of A.

 

All the while,

She exudes

     No

Hesitation

In illustrating what the nation

Has come to be—

 

     A people

     So

     Conflicted,

 

     A republic

     With

          So many

          Tribulations

          Currently inflicted.

 

Now her words

Resound

Fiercely

For us all,

Calling

For change

     Up

          The

               Hill

                    We

                         Climb,

 

Honing in

On our pre-existing

Hope

     And strength

And moving

Toward new

Forms of

     Democracy,

          Liberty,

               Unity.

 

Her rhythms

And her rhymes

     Emerge

          Like a metronome’s

Steady pulse,

          Matching heartbeats

Of the audience members

 

As those far and near

Suddenly hear

Their own thoughts

In her words

Of how rebuilding

Needs

To happen

 

And how we

Cannot

Do it

     Divided

Or

 

Alone.

 

Suddenly,

 

     Mirroring

     The heart,

 

Poetry

Becomes

An anthem,

 

     The sole

     Suitable

     Container

     To respond

     To the way

     That pillars

     Of a nation

     Are knocked to the ground

     With several

     Great

     Clatters,

 

          Then are reconstructed

          Epically,

          Determinedly,

          Unfailingly

 

               Even if

               It takes

               Time.

 

Yes,

Suddenly,

Poetry

Matters,

 

     Becoming

A beautiful

Blueprint

For a prime

     Place for change,

     Strength,

     And hope

          To culminate.

 

 

Bio: Margaret Moore

Margaret Moore is a 2020 Magna Cum Laude graduate of Fairfield University and an MFA candidate in Fairfield’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program.

Her poem, “Heartbeats of a Nation” celebrates the power of inaugural poet Amanda Gorman’s poem “The Hill We Climb” and the way that it has inspired people to finally consider poetry to be a critical part of life and an anthem for the United States.

Her work appears in Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy, Brevity’s Nonfiction Blog, Positive Writer, and Independent Catholic News among other publications.

 

 

 

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