*a poem by Alice Walker from 2011. Walker is an activist, writer, poet, and all around powerhouse of a human being who came from nowhere – both of her parents were sharecropper in rural Georgia – and almost nothing to the pinnacle(s!!) of her profession. Best known for The Color Purple, her activism on many issues is also at the heart of who she is and how she views the world. I have linked her wiki page below. Enjoy, thanks for visiting, and happy Sunday…
My desire
is always the same; wherever Life
deposits me:
I want to stick my toe
& soon my whole body
into the water.
I want to shake out a fat broom
& sweep dried leaves
bruised blossoms
dead insects
& dust.
I want to grow
something.
It seems impossible that desire
can sometimes transform into devotion;
but this has happened.
And that is how I’ve survived:
how the hole
I carefully tended
in the garden of my heart
grew a heart
to fill it.