Inaugural Incantation 2021
Carol Coffee Reposa
January 18, 2021
Today we’ll see the turbid tides recede
And peel away those months of sludge and smear
To stanch the nation’s wound, our long slow bleed.
New songs will rise up in the streets, words freed
At last to bear their weight, and all will hear.
Today we’ll see the turbid tides recede.
Dry streams will start to flow again, to feed
The many on their banks. Our skies will clear
To stanch the nation’s wound, our long slow bleed.
No souls will live in shadow, forced to plead
For mercy, shed their dreams, or breathe in fear.
Today we’ll see the turbid tides recede
To make way for new growth, the bursting seed
That sprouts a forest, brings all people near
To stanch the nation’s wound, our long slow bleed.
No law will have to power to impede
That shining birth, that gift, in this new year.
Today we’ll see the turbid tides recede
To stanch the nation’s wound, our long slow bleed.
Author of five books of poetry, Carol Coffee Reposa has received five Pushcart Prize nominations, along with three Fulbright/Hays Fellowships for study in Russia, Peru, Ecuador, and Mexico. A member of the Texas Institute of Letters and of the Voices de la Luna editorial staff, she is the 2018 Texas Poet Laureate.
