Santa Clara Review publishes “Courage”

I just received the print copy of the Spring 2025 Santa Clara Review (vol. 112, issue 02), which features my poem “Courage.” I wrote this one many years ago for my mother, and am proud it found its way to a literary review that I love.

Courage
for my mother, Joanne

Is to stand on a stranger’s porch
and ask boldly, is my husband here?
without flinching in the snow
that falls into your hair

Is to dance through the year
that claimed your mother’s life
forty-nine and counting

Is to ignore the ache a three-job life
sinks into your bones
to keep the small house
your daughters call home

Is to welcome the dark
with a staunch belief
that that there is a God
who lovingly counts
the hairs on your head

Is to arrange your bedroom
so that you wake facing
the sunrise

Is to start each day with Yes

Cite as: Harris, Colleen S. “Courage,” Santa Clara Review, vol. 112, iss. 02, Spring 2025, p. 108.