Yesterday was a whirlwind of photographs, chalk, and editing. In a quiet moment, I picked up one of my poetry books that I don’t usually pick up, opened it to a page that I’d earmarked who knows when, and rediscovered this wonderful poem by Rita Dove. I jumped up onto a chair and started to write it out on my wall incorporating it into my project. Who would have thought that “Come on, shake a leg!” could be such a touching line in a poem?
Dawn Revisited | Rita Dove
Imagine you wake up
with a second chance: The blue jay
hawks his pretty wares
and the oak still stands, spreading
glorious shade. If you don’t look back,
the future never happens.
How good to rise in sunlight,
in the prodigal smell of biscuits -
eggs and sausage on the grill.
The whole sky is yours
to write on, blown open
to a blank page. Come on,
shake a leg! You’ll never know
who’s down there, frying those eggs,
if you don’t get up and see.
