Witness

Poems stand at the door as witness.
We are asked to listen
as images
turn inward, are shelved.

Or poems expel
old hopes and push attention
to where a storm
has dealt
damage from tornado
or flood.

A landslide marks
the place where the riprap has failed
and hammers have nailed red signs:
a heart torn up--
relief and succor proffered.

So dance with joy,
sing songs.
Perhaps poems can help with the grief.
Do not give up.

A poem presents but an image,
but it bursts with life.