Soul Resolutions – a poem by Alison Jennings

Soul Resolutions (For Stanley Kunitz)					

I want to lean back
into immortal life—
misremembered
memories of the human race,
the myths of our abrupt
arrival here on earth –

and discover
what brought us
to this spinning planet,
where, instead
of finding Eden,
we push rocks up hills,

which roll back down
with each failure—
war and crime, poverty, 
pollution—to be worthy
of the treasures
we’ve been given:  
air and water, animals 
and plants, sun
and rain and colors.

I want to reconstruct
the ancient legends,
unveil the essence
of existence, see where
we made mistakes, 
and study when (and how)
we got it right;
	
to ultimately bless
this borrowed dust.
 

Alison Jennings is a Seattle-based poet who’s written poetry since her ninth year, but only began to submit her work after retiring from public school teaching.  Recently, she has had over forty poems published, and won 3rd place or Honorable Mention in several contests.  Please visit her website at https://sites.google.com/view/airandfirepet/home.