By Shira
The Discovery of Poetry
dedicated to Joan Logghe (but only my own responsibility)
You who are not imagination impaired
Imagine a life without poetry
A tea party set with sweet dainty biscuits, delicate cups of tea and no guests
A single bed in a grey-walled boarding house
Imagine a world without music or song
Monotone monologues, precise words with logical meanings
Meanings exactly as they sound.
No more
Imagine logic and testtubes for wall decorations
Dark plaid skirts on a little girl because they don’t show dirt
Imagine no home for longing and no place for love
A brown paper bag hiding death and anger
Matching table cloths, napkins, dinner plates and cups
You who love poetry
Don’t need a telephone or master
Friendship, wisdom and laughter
lie as close as your pocket
and your shelf.
She Loved Rosebushes and Fruit Trees
(a pantoum)
Four rosebushes line the path
The lemon tree she planted
Straight stairs up to the doorway
At 90 she still climbs
The lemon tree she planted
The house with ripe plums and apricots
At 90 she still climbs
Freeway’s steel stole her cherished home
The house with ripe plums and apricots
The California Dream
Freeway’s steel stole her cherished home
Far from the Old Country
The California Dream
Home of young Jewish men for her daughter to marry
Far from the Old Country
My mother slept above the dressing room
Home of young Jewish men for her daughter to marry
The retail shop in Ocean Park
My mother slept above the dressing room
No quiet place to study
The retail shop in Ocean Park
Worth the ocean crossing
No quiet place to study
Always reading books
Worth the ocean crossing
Wishes for a better life
Always reading books
A one bedroom apartment
Wishes for a better life
Some granted, some not
A one bedroom apartment
As frugal as my grandpa
Some granted, some not
Straight stairs up to the doorway
As frugal as my grandpa
Four rosebushes line the path
About Shira: Shira lives in New Mexico and wrote these poems, her first, at Ghost Ranch in a poetry workshop taught by poet Joan Logghe.
Of the workshop, Shira said: The workshop was as much about appreciating poetry as it was writing poetry. Our teacher mostly referred to the teachings of Robert Bly and Natalie Goldberg. Joan read to us poems by many poets that deeply inspired her, both structured and unstructured forms. Each time we wrote, we would first do a brief meditation then write in ten to fifteen minute writing blocks. Then we read out loud. The students ranged from very experienced poets with Masters degrees to those who’d never written a word in our lives. I was inspired by the group and our teacher. I also appreciated the kind of feedback we did, which was “Recall,” where listeners repeated back certain lines that resonated. It was a way of saying that something was good without actually inserting judgment into the process.
redravine.wordpress.com 
I’m something of a poetry virgin myself, not being familiar with many forms and structures. I’m fascinated by the “pantoum.” What a lovely form! I like how it repeats and circles back, and I especially like the way that the content for this poem has elements of that in it, especially the notion of a woman frugal like her father, this idea of things in life being passed down and repeating themselves.
Also, some of the lines and images in the first poem that stood out for me:
A single bed in a grey-walled boarding house
Monotone monologues, precise words with logical meanings
logic and testtubes for wall decorations
Dark plaid skirts on a little girl because they don’t show dirt
Matching table cloths, napkins, dinner plates and cups
Thanks for sharing these poems. They demonstrate how beginner’s mind is actually the opposite of “amateur”; it’s really about tapping into a deep, deep place for writing.
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Thank you for sharing these poems. Like ybonesy, I don’t know much about the formalities and structure of poetry. Just that I love writing and reading it.
These lines struck me because they remind me that good writing and books are mentors and friends:
You who love poetry
Don’t need a telephone or master
Friendship, wisdom and laughter
lie as close as your pocket
and your shelf.
I like how you used writing practice to write poetry, and recall as feedback. We used the meditation and practice format with Natalie last year (along with Clark Strand’s Seeds From a Birch Tree) to write haiku at Ghost Ranch. The act of holding the energy, then writing, is powerful.
Great links to the pantoum and to Joan’s website. She seems like someone I’d like to take a class from.
I hope you keep writing poetry. You are really on to something here. Have you planned a structure into your day to write more poetry since coming back from Ghost Ranch?
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