Lately I’ve been praying to Muhammad by Chelan Harkin—National Poetry Month 2023

                 Chelan Harkin.

Chelan Harkin is a 30-something and lives in Washington state with her two young children, Amari and Nahanni.  She has authored four books of poetry, Susceptible to Light, Let Us Dance! The Stumble and Whirl with The Beloved, Taste the Sky, and Bouquet of Stars. She contributes to online spiritual journals and her popularity has grown rapidly.

Harkin mixes mysticism and a social justice edge.  In  Lately I’ve been praying to Muhammad she sounds an awfully like a Universalist.

Lately I’ve been praying to Muhammad

Lately I’ve been praying to Muhammad,

Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Baha’u’llah, Zoroaster, Jesus—

why be choosy? 

I ask any source of true love

and great joy

to throw me as many bones

as they might.

Sometimes I prayer to Mozart, Bach or Galileo

to pour music or the stars

through me.

Often I pray to Tahirih,

a great Persian poet and feminist

of the 1800’s who would remove

her veil when addressing men

and was martyred

for speaking the irrepressible truth

in her heart

at age 38.

Her final words were,

“You can kill me as soon as you like,

but you will never stop

the emancipation of women.”

I often ask Hafiz for a dance

and we go for the most poetic whirls.

Sometimes I ask Rumi

that he pluck me an ancient,

everblooming rose

and I crush its scent

onto the page.

I have a crush on Khalil Gibran

and ask that he pass me

inspired love notes.

I pray to Harriet Tubman,

that queen of heroism,

for courage

and to Einstein

for great ideas.

Inspiration is not elitist.

There is no muse

that is off limits,

no genius you should not approach

and ask to be yours.

There are no copyright issues

with what you receive from prayer.

No one lays claim

to certain frequencies

of light.

Oh beseech whoever you might

that the master keys

that open all hearts

are put in your care

that your particularly necessary

style of expression

may open new portals of beauty

to the eyes of the world

Hobnob with all the great

dead poets,

thinkers,

lovers,

artists,

heroes of justice,

leaders of truth.

They still want a place

to pour their wonder

into the world

and you are a great vessel.

It’s an open bar in the sky.

Approach thirsty,

and ask!

 

—Chelan Harkin