11 June 2025

Birth Day

 

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I have a birthday
in June, so celebration
seems right and proper.
Over seventy
now, I shrink and bend into
a sitting position.
How can I not?  This
is how I spent my life, bent
over books and notebooks:
writing to think, to
open opportunities
for other thinkers.
 
I’m exercising now,
using my words in freedom’s
causes, rights to belong,
to speak and to build
homes in the U S of A.
It’s what we offer.
Any other way
we try to transform into
freedom from fear.
 
Today my mind moves
through memory into the
forests I have known,
where trees and boulders
that lent me their strength and peace
buoy me up still.
Leaves and needles
brush the dust of retirement
off my bent body.
And I stand taller.
Without the weight of tiredness,
I celebrate June.


 For my prompt "Birthday" at What's Going On? 


My blog poems are rough drafts.
Please respect my copyright.
© 2025 Susan L. Chast

10 comments:

  1. Mary6/11/2025 11:01 AM

    "I’m exercising now,
    using my words in freedom’s
    causes". -- This is the most important exercise of all! But it is nice to be able to look back through the memories of how you gained strength over the years & to realize you are still strong, still have a voice that can "transform into freedom from fear." We all must continue to use our voices and continue to 'stand taller' than we feel inside sometime!

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  2. Sherry Blue Sky6/11/2025 11:17 AM

    I love that your poems so often speak for social justice, community, and freedom. It is what we can do in times when we can do little else to turn the tide except believe the tide WILL turn again. I especially love your third stanza, the balm of nature, the solace of memory. Beautiful.

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  3. Sumana Roy6/11/2025 11:17 AM

    I find a wonderful blend of the past, present and future in the poem. I love the grit, the offering and hope leading to light. This is a most beautiful poem, Susan.
    "I’m exercising now,
    using my words in freedom’s
    causes, rights to belong,
    to speak and to build
    homes in the U S of A.
    It’s what we offer."....Amazing lines.

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  4. Kim M. Russell6/11/2025 12:34 PM

    I love these lines, Susan:
    ‘Today my mind moves
    through memory into the
    forests I have known,
    where trees and boulders
    that lent me their strength and peace
    buoy me up still.’

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  5. rallentanda6/11/2025 2:46 PM

    Happy Birthday Susan. Over seventy is the new over fifty. You will always be forever young, vibrant and mentally stimulating:)

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  6. Jae Rose6/11/2025 4:12 PM

    May your birthday be filled with inner celebrations- Jae

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  7. Rajani6/12/2025 6:05 AM

    Happy Birthday, Susan...I love "to transform into freedom from fear." Nature does give us the strength we need to keep the good fight going- with our words.

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  8. Intelliblog6/12/2025 9:35 AM

    Happy Birthday, fellow June child! A lovely poem, Susan, full of joie-de-vivre and purpose and commitment and gratitude. Never mind the years, they don't matter, as long as each one of them has mattered.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jennifer Wagner6/12/2025 2:01 PM

    This is lovely, Susan. I love how you poetically meander from books to forests. Happy Birthday--I hope you have a wonderful June~

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous6/14/2025 2:09 PM

    I like that. buoyant, positive thoughts.

    ReplyDelete

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