Gloria Heffernan
My sole purpose today is to answer
Not to have the answer
Not to be the answer
Simply to hear the call and respond
The way the daffodil answers the April sun
The way the monk answers the angelus bell
The way the blanket answers the cold
I don’t have to know
I don’t have to explain
I don’t have to solve
I have only to pick up the ringing phone,
and be the voice that says, Here I am
Tell me. I’m listening
—
Gloria Heffernan is the author of four poetry collections—most recently Fused (Shanti Arts Publishing). Her craft book Exploring Poetry of Presence (Back Porch Productions) won the CNY Book Award for Nonfiction and she has received the Naugatuck River Review Narrative Poetry Prize. She is the author of the collections Peregrinatio: Poems for Antarctica (Kelsay Books) and What the Gratitude List Said to the Bucket List (New York Quarterly Books). Her forthcoming collection, Moments of Color and Cloud will be published by Shanti Arts in 2026. You can find more of her work at www.gloriaheffernan.wordpress.com.