Poet’s Corner-June 3, 2022

Every Friday, James Blevins, this newspaper’s in-house reporter and poet—who has seen his work previously published in “Salt Hill Journal,” “Pretty Owl Poetry,” “Stoneboat Journal,” “Mud Season Review” and “AZURE,” as well as numerous other outlets both online and in print—chooses one poem for publication.

Additionally, Blevins will share a poem of his own, just for good measure, at the end of each calendar month.

Joy

By Clarissa Scott Delany

Joy shakes me like the wind that lifts a sail,

Like the roistering wind

That laughs through stalwart pines.

It floods me like the sun

On rain-drenched trees

That flash with silver and green.

I abandon myself to joy—

I laugh—I sing.

Too long have I walked a desolate way,

Too long stumbled down a maze

Bewildered.

Clarissa Scott Delany was a poet, essayist and social worker associated with the Harlem Renaissance movement. She died in 1927.