A Shimmering
By Claire J. Baker, Pinole, CA
Grand Prize winner of the 30th Annual Dancing Poetry Festival, 2023
High in the sky, a shimmering
in wakes of a million fervent wishes,
as people pray both day and night,
hoping every word is heard.
In wakes of a million fervent wishes,
we speak as if there were an angel
who listens, hears our every word
in sun-bright lighting of a cloud.
You speak as if there were a saint,
dear one. And you believe there is
in sun-bright lighting of a cloud,
mystical and other worldly.
Dear heart, you believe there is
a portal where one kneels and waits,
feels mystical and other worldly,
and are handed heaven’s map –
watching stars encircle darkness.
Again, anticipation flares
past life on earth, and now you kneel
as stars enliven all the darkness . . . .
high in the sky a shimmering,
