"Portrait in Graphite and Ornamental Hagiography" by C. Dale Young

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend October 13, 2017   Portrait in Graphite and Ornamental Hagiography   C. Dale Young

You may not believe it, but I have tried, set my sights on the morning star in belief it would guide me. I have tried.   I have tried, as the Jesuits taught, to be singular, to be whole, to be one. The labor of this was exhausting. Time reveals things   one need not appreciate when young, and I fear being singular, being one, is something damned near impossible for someone   like me. Saint Jerome, cloistered in a tiny room, found his singular calling in updating the Latin Bible with his knowledge of Greek texts.   In Assisi, Saint Francis updated nature, called birds out of the trees. I am, unfortunately, no saint. Fractured, divided to the quick, I am incapable   of being singular. And the old nun who taught Art at my high school, who called me a stupid mongrel, understood this very fact long before I did.   Profession, family, belief: I can see now my background challenges me, prevents me from remaining true to only one thing. The fog,   settled over Ocean Beach, settles the matter by embracing everything indiscriminately, and I want to understand why I notice   such things. For most of my life, I have desired a category, a designation, but maybe that desire was misplaced? Maybe it was just   another failure, a failure of imagination? Outside, two hummingbirds cross-stitch the air. They have lived here for so long, lived   off the "nectar" I boil up for them each week, that they show me no semblance of fear or distrust— they hover and feed near me with violent precision.            Copyright © 2017 C. Dale Young. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "I have, for years, made 'nectar' for the hummingbirds that live near my home. They are so singular in purpose, and this prompted me to think about what it means to be singular, a term I have been rubbing up against since my time in high school decades ago." —C. Dale Young   C. Dale Young is the author of four books of poetry, the most recent being The Halo (Four Way Books, 2016). He lives in San Francisco where he practices medicine full-time. Poetry by Young   The Halo (Four Way Books, 2016) "Civilization" by Carl Phillips "Taking Down the Tree" by Jane Kenyon "Blue Dementia" by Yusef Komunyakaa Poem-a-Day   If you value Poem-a-Day, please consider a monthly donation or one-time gift to help make it possible. Poem-a-Day is the only digital series publishing new, previously unpublished work by today's poets each weekday morning. The free series, which also features a curated selection of classic poems on weekends, reaches 450,000+ readers daily. Thank you! Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038