THE HOPE PROJECT by Martina Reisz Newberry

Feb 17, 2022 | Bubbler, FSR

for David Fite

I like to think that the January muse is waiting for me–
it is nearly the new year.

I have, in the past, imagined that this muse
would clear a path on my chaotic desktop
(with its ever-present veneer of dust),

placed a new journal open to
the first blank page. I will imagine that again.

This muse, as she has so often done,
has attached a note to the page. It says,

Go ahead. There are countless pages
here for you;
as many poems,
as many nights of love,
as many glasses of
crisp-as-linen white wine
as there are stars.

Sit in this, your place, and breathe in
the promises Love has given you.

There will come exchanges to be made
but, even then, there’ll be no endings.

…what the old words have said and we must say again, meaning them, one last time and with greater feeling.” -The Hope Project by David Fite, Sine Qua Non Publishers, July 1, 2016

Martina Reisz Newberry is the author of 6 books of poetry. Her most recent book is BLUES FOR FRENCH ROAST WITH CHICORY, available from Deerbrook Editions. She is the author of NEVER COMPLETELY AWAKE ( from Deerbrook Editions), and TAKE THE LONG WAY HOME (Unsolicited Press). She is also the author of WHERE IT GOES (Deerbrook Editions). LEARNING BY ROTE (Deerbrook Editions) and RUNNING LIKE A WOMAN WITH HER HAIR ON FIRE: Collected Poems (Red Hen Press).