Kathryn Sadakierski’s writing has appeared in Agape Review, Critical Read, Halfway Down the Stairs, Literature Today, NewPages Blog, Silkworm, Songs of Eretz, and elsewhere. Her micro-chapbook “Travels through New York” was published by Origami Poems Project (2020). She holds a B.A. and M.S. from Bay Path University.
The rustle of voices on the breeze
Like summer winds stirring marsh reeds
Rises from the midst
Of the marketplace where ideas live,
Reimagined and exchanged,
Traded like bundles of cheese or bread,
These tools by which our cities are built,
These budding notions blossoming like wild roses,
Sprawling into temples, on the sea-swept sand,
They grow like Corinthian columns
Into the sky, flutes of ivory
Crowned by acanthus leaves,
Still standing for the world to see.
Farms gave way to city-states,
The smell of vegetables and meat carried
Like the voices on the breeze,
In the agora, a place
Of sun-splashed color and chatter,
Where we realize the mettle
Of which man and woman are made,
Speeches resonating,
Prayers chanting,
Cheers and laughter bubbling,
Curtain sweeping across a stage
Christened anew each day
By actors and politicians,
Athletes and orators,
In this arena of human drama,
A theater that has known
Sweat and tears,
Irony and sincerity,
The promise of hope
For what tomorrow would present
In the amphitheater’s ring
Where everyone can meet,
And ideas continue to breathe
Life into young minds
Where speeches still resonate,
And prayers still chant,
History’s idea marketplace
Thriving even now.
Poetry in this post: © Kathryn Sadakierski
Published with the permission of Kathryn Sadakierski