In this week’s poem, by David Stankiewicz, we find a father’s moment of grace and praise. I love how fully this poem draws us into the warmth of its room, music and so very sacred embrace.
Stankiewicz is the author of “My First Beatrice” (Moon Pie Press). He is an associate professor of English at Southern Maine Community College. He lives in Cape Elizabeth with his wife and two daughters.
Listening To John Coltrane With My Baby Daughter
By David Stankiewicz
To praise you is the desire of man—
Augustine again—and who am I to disagree
Holding my eight month old
At the embered end of a fussy winter afternoon
When she finally settles into my arms
As I sway her around the living room,
Surrendering myself to Trane’s testimony,
That eloquent exaltation (as the saint said,
What has anyone achieved in words
When he speaks about you?),
Her heart beating, her spontaneous breathing
Up against my own chest,
Her blue new eyes quietly open,
A love supreme, a love supreme, a love supreme.
Megan Grumbling is a poet and writer who lives in Portland. Deep Water: Maine Poems is produced in collaboration with the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. “Listening To John Coltrane With My Baby Daughter,” copyright © 2021 by David Stankiewicz, was originally published in The Aurorean.
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