Author Archives: Margaret Dubay Mikus

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52–“Listening to Peter Mulvey” by Margaret Dubay Mikus

12/13/10

Listening to Peter Mulvey

The attempt to do something
that matters, that lasts,
meaning something to someone,

moving a heart to tears
of joy or sorrow that is familiar,
speaks to someone

or for someone,
to say something that hasn’t been,
but needs to be.

It could all be for me—
I am someone—but I refer
to the part of me, the connection,

that is someone else.
I am aware all is not light and laughter,
if not evil, then darkness

surely exists.
But in that pitch black
is still a crystal, a seed, a promise.

That is where I live.

Margaret Dubay Mikus
© 2010

From upcoming collection: Resist the Slide into Darkness by Margaret Dubay Mikus. Listen to this poem: https://youtu.be/vS1G_Rgx4R8

I first heard Peter Mulvey at Folkstage, a live radio show on WFMT radio in Chicago, hosted by Rich Warren. Peter’s music, stories, humor, and humanness were more than entertainment, they were nourishment. They moved me and stayed with me, like velcro, inspiring many poems including this one. I’ve seen and heard Peter many times since then, always with the same penetrating effect. My heart is opened in some way by his artistry and generosity. He creates a space of grace. I chose this poem because it says something relevant for today, these times we are in. What music inspires you to be and do better?

For more poem videos in the series

51–“White Woman from Illinois on Mandela” from “Frazzle”

“He might be the first to say
he was ordinary,
a man making choices with great clarity,

understanding consequences
to holding hate and anger close,
how one gets burned
and nothing gets accomplished….”

From “White Woman from Illinois on Mandela” in my book, Thrown Again into the Frazzle Machine: Poems of Grace, Hope, and Healing. Listen here: https://youtu.be/hHvHZ7noO94

My internet was down today and I wasn’t sure I could get a post out. I didn’t freak out, but let it go…what will be will be. Yet a way to do it presented itself (in the form of my husband), and I took it. These videos have become my lifeline, kind of, and I needed that.

I read this poem in my voice lesson on Wednesday. Now that I’m choosing what to read each day from all the possibilities, I wanted to pick something that caught the feeling for me, the urgency maybe. I had some ideas, but I waited until the inner voice was clear. And I trusted: Read about “ordinary people” doing extraordinary things. Yes. Isn’t that part of hope, remembering…?

For more poem videos from the series

THROWN AGAIN into the FRAZZLE MACHINE: Poems of Grace, Hope, and Healing

Expanding Video Poem Project

Starting today, I am broadening my video project beyond my original idea of reading a poem a day from my book, “Thrown Again into the Frazzle Machine,” in chronological order. There are currently 48 videos from that series. The new plan is to record poems I find particularly compelling that day, from all three of my books, as well as unpublished work (which will be here on my blog).

Today’s reading is a poem I wrote in 2010 and posted a couple days ago, about Barack Obama, “Presidential.” Listen here: https://youtu.be/PjgsiLj2Hqg

For all poem videos

48–“Speaking Kidney” from “Frazzle”

“…What would kidney language be like?
Like the earth speaking
in ebb and flow of tides,

crying softly in drought or deluge,
flowing currents coming and going,
pushing and pulling….”

From poem 48, in my book, “Thrown Again into the Frazzle Machine: Poems of Grace, Hope, and Healing.” Listen here: https://youtu.be/KdJ_MTDq5HE

What does it mean to listen to the body, to notice when things are off balance and take steps to be healthier—even before illness sets in? Each organ seems to have its own language (“symptoms”). If you are like me, you may not be aware of a problem until the situation is serious. This poem asks for a gentler approach, to act as if the mind (intellect) and the body are on the same team, and vitality—without pain—is the common goal.

For more poem videos from “Frazzle”

THROWN AGAIN into the FRAZZLE MACHINE: Poems of Grace, Hope, and Healing

Poems of Barack Obama-2

Listen to this poem about Barack Obama, written in 2010: https://youtu.be/PjgsiLj2Hqg

4/22/10

Presidential

You don’t vote for a president
so he can give you all you want,
so he or she could be you
if only you knew better.

You elect a president so he or she
can do their best with integrity,
represent the best in us
to the extent that is possible.

They begin the job
in whatever hole was dug
by previous actions or inactions,
not a level field, not fair at all.

And the job it takes to rule
over the mostly unruly,
to weather criticism from
all the “what about me’s?”

while staying the course with honesty
grace, compassion, intelligence,
thoughtfulness, passion, calm and dignity,
weighing options on the universal scale,

it can be easy to forget
in all the insistent demanding,
all the impatient fluster and bluster that
he…or she…is only human,

no more…no less.

What is called for
is simple kindness.