Featured Poem - November/December 2007
ODE TO FREEDOM
Can you see the beauty in a blade of grass?
I can.
Just walking down the street breathing,
taking in all the city has to offer.
Exhaust, the aroma of food, the smell of
hot pavement in summer, that cool smell
once it has rained.
That’s freedom to me.
Can you see the beauty of the rush
of air that precedes the A train
as it comes to Fulton Street from B.K.?
I can.
To be able to look in her eyes
and just trace the curve of her face with my finger…
in silence,
even if it’s only for a moment and only a memory…
That’s still freedom to me.
Can you see beauty on the tiniest
or grandest of scales,
be it a baby’s coo, or the thunder’s rumble?
I can.
Just the fact that I sit right here,
right now, delivering this poem
to you…
That’s freedom to me.
What does it mean to you?
Erik R. Nusom (a.k.a. Finesse)
We are deeply saddened that Erik Nusom, a longtime and greatly respected participant of ASC's Creative Writing Workshop, passed away in October.
Erik’s poems never failed to make his audience sit up and take notice, whether he was sharing his writings in our workshop, at public readings, or in the pages of Situations. Through his sharp wit and disarming openness, Erik’s writings challenged us to think, reflect, and question.
We’ll miss Erik’s charismatic and insightful presence in the ASC Creative Writing Workshop. We’re lucky to have his poems—treasures to remember him by.—Gerry Gomez Pearlberg, Workshop Facilitator