Wednesday, May 18, 2011

The Morning Reading: "at the altar of loneliness"


The Facebook Sonnet
by Sherman Alexie

Welcome to the endless high-school
Reunion. Welcome to past friends
And lovers, however kind or cruel.
Let’s undervalue and unmend

The present. Why can’t we pretend
Every stage of life is the same?
Let’s exhume, resume, and extend
Childhood. Let’s all play the games

That occupy the young. Let fame
And shame intertwine. Let one’s search
For God become public domain.
Let church.com become our church.

Let’s sign up, sign in, and confess
Here at the altar of loneliness.

*

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I read Alexie's poem in this week's New Yorker in a doctor's waiting room while watching patients going in and out to talk on their cell phones as I read poems from a wonderful new community of poets who CHOOSE to interact face-to-face in the classroom. I copied this poem down to share with them later...when they forget the family they became just by sharing themselves for 3 hours per week in person.

 
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