a quickwrite for my students, on a prompt i gave them in class (thank you, sandi, for writing this down)

DOES POETRY MATTER?

If I could say only one thing to you, right
here, right or terribly illogical, I would
say ____________ and pray
we try something that will elicit laughter:
stomping through the mud with our best shoes
on, shoveling the beans into our mouths
with our hands. Listen: I hope we cultivate
what matters: you, them, how we wake.
This is what I would I say.