Vox Populi
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Michelle Bitting: Savior
A horse jumped the fence somewhere in Devon
and bolted for the forest
bringing traffic to a halt on the crowded highway.
No one expected what happened next:
minivan of string quartet players
unfolded onto asphalt: black-clad bandits
with their strung gut and polished bodies of sanded willow,
ear-enchanters, they began to strum
and drivers tumbled forth to listen
like the children of Hamlin. Spellbound
in wildflowers and grass,
weepy at Pachelbel’s Canon in D,
favorite air of weddings
and solemn ceremonies.
What’s beyond necessary
need not be sought: a divided road, a setting sun,
fair setting for the exceptional.
Who will be called to save the world?
No one knows
but the beast rides farther into green,
its mane swaying to the trill of a violin.
Know this:
the doctor must always be in.
Someone always there to bring the horse home.
~~~
Copyright 2018 Michelle Bitting. First published in The Couple Who Fell to Earth (C&R Press, 2018).
Michelle Bitting is the Poet Laureate of Pacific Palisades and has won multiple grants from the Optimists Club and Poets & Writers Magazine for her teaching work in Los Angeles. Her many collections of poetry include Nightmares & Miracles (Two Sylvias Press, 2020)
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Thank you, Michael and Readers! I tried to respond to everyone’s responses but they kept erasing. Know that I send love & gratitude!
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Thank YOU!
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“What’s beyond necessary
need not be sought”
A horse running free! Music! What a poem!💓
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I love the soundtrack of this poem.
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I’m so glad! xo
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Thanks, Michelle!
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Ah, again & again, and once more in “Savior”: Michelle Bitting’s poems make me shiver & smile & want to read them over & over — each time seeing the worlds in her world so clearly. Such wide and inspiring emotional landscapes, such clarity in her tone and concision, such trust in her readers!
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Yes, the horse and the music galloping into the end of the world. Brilliant!
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Oh Laure-Anne, mistress of deep vision & generosity–how I miss you!
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Laure-Anne, mistress of deep vision & generosity–how I miss you! xo
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I love Michelle’s sensibility, as if there’s a veil she pulls back to reveal what is beneath.
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There are mornings when tears of gratitude are just the balm one needs. Michelle’s beautiful poem gave them to me. Thank you, Michael. I’m tumbling into the poem all over again.
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