Poetry Archive Now Wordview 2021: Sitting with Amazing

by Janice Whyne

The first line was my response–during a call–to the Derek Chauvin trial verdict. The night before, when the verdict was imminent, I’d said I didn’t want to know yet, as “the most likely bad news can keep till tomorrow.” So little was my faith that justice would be done. Throughout the day the line kept coming back to me, and the person on the call called again to say they'd been using it with others. The line seemed to be asking to become a poem.

Joy Peace Free verse

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Poetry Archive Now Wordview 2021: Sitting with Amazing

Today I’m sitting with amazing.

Even though there are still so many things that are an onslaught against my mind and my senses; I’m sitting with amazing.

Because I need joy.

Because I need peace.

Because I need to be able to inhale and exhale something other than trauma.

I’m sitting with amazing.

I’m reclining in the sun streaming through my window.

I’m sitting with amazing.

I’m remembering yesterday’s sky and taking in the sunset.

I’m sitting with amazing.

I’m hearing about how balsamic vinegar plus heat can elevate tomatoes;

visualising how a plantain stew is going to feed my soul. I’m sitting with amazing.

I’m belly laughing with my cousin about my failed attempt at Sahur.

My tray was laden with goodness, my timing was off.

I’m sitting with amazing.

I’m smiling at the power of a bowl of soup and some sourdough bread.

Simple things saturated with love.

Totally unplanned. Completely intentional.

I’m sitting with amazing.

I’m leaning into wonder, open to awe, maintaining my joy.

I’m sitting with amazing.

I’m here writing instead of sleeping…

60 minutes and counting.

306 words, 1,748 characters and stopping.

Behind every thought a bigger story.

Today, I’m sitting with amazing.

Poem recorded as part of Poetry Archive Now: Wordview 2021. Used by permission of author.

Poetry Archive Now Wordview 2021 Winners

Poetry Archive Now! was established in 2020 to enable us to gather recordings from a much wider pool of talented poets from the UK and ...

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Janice Whyne

A Londoner by birthplace, a Jamaican by birthright. Janice has been a words person from when she was a child; writing prose filled Christmas cards, songs and poetry. She sees poetry as an outlet and conduit for our emotions, feelings and lived experiences; individual or collective.

A number of her poems are responses to something she’s heard in conversation or a current event such as 'Humanity', a response to the murder of George Floyd (May 2020). Believing that words have transformative power if one person is impacted by her words, she sees that as enough.

She ventured into Spoken Word in 2016; participating in her first open mic at the Poetry Cafe, London. She was 1st runner up at the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival Poetry Slam 2019 and one of the poets for 100 Thousand Poets for Change Global Reading in 2020. Her poems have appeared in ‘Coffee & Contemplation: a taste of empowerment’, Coffee People Zine, Issue 10 (2020) and are due to be part of a collection in 2022.

Themes

Joy Peace

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Free verse

A special thank you to our WordView 2021 poets.

Chair of the Judging Panel, Imtiaz Dharker, says: "An idea that began as a response to the world shutting down has, joyfully, become a way to invite the whole world in. It has been exciting to see the entries come in from different countries, from marginalised voices, from people of all backgrounds who now know this space belongs to them. My fellow judges and I were struck by the immediacy of experience and commitment to language in the winning entries. It's also good to think that the rest of the entries will continue to be seen as an invaluable record of our times."

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