Pocket Poetry, Minneapolis, Minnesota, April 2008, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
April 17th is the first national Poem In Your Pocket Day. It’s part of the wider celebration of National Poetry Month. I went to my monthly poetry group last Friday. We talked about the life of Maya Angelou, read her poetry, sat in silence between poems. We listened to her voice. This is the 3rd month we have met.
The first month was Ted Kooser. After the group ended that night, Teri passed around a thank-you card (gratitude to those who came before us). We all signed it; the next day she mailed it off to Ted. A generous man, the former Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner wrote back within the month (look for an upcoming post).
The second month was Mary Oliver. In March, three members of the poetry group went to see Mary Oliver at the State Theater in Minneapolis (here’s Mary with her famous dog, Percy, in Jim Walsh’s MinnPost article, The poet as rock star: Mary Oliver returns for a reading). They shared stories about the funny and engaging Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, who read to a packed house; Mary Oliver is one of the humblest and highest paid poets in America.
April is the month we honor poetry as an art form. “Poetry” comes from the ancient Greek: ποιεω (poieo) meaning I create. It is an art in which human language becomes a palette for its aesthetic qualities. Poetry creates a visual feast from the simplest ingredients — it pares language down to the bare essentials.
New York City is hosting its 6th annual Poem in Your Pocket Day (PIYP) on Thursday, April 17, 2008, with a series of events scheduled to celebrate the versatility and inspiration of poetry. The day was created to encourage New Yorkers of all ages to carry a poem in their pocket to share with family and friends. Now it’s going national.
How can you participate? There is a list of ways to celebrate national Poem In Your Pocket Day at poets.org, which includes:
- Post pocket-sized verses in public places
- Handwrite some lines on the back of your business cards
- Start a street team to pass out poems in your community
- Distribute bookmarks with your favorite immortal lines
- Add a poem to your email footer
- Post a poem on your blog or social networking page
- Text a poem to friends
Poem In Your Pocket (National Poetry Month), Minneapolis, Minnesota,
April 2008, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
My friend Teri, who started our poetry group, created and handed out Poem In Your Pocket sheets (above) after last Friday’s poetry group. We each copied a poem from over 20 poetry books sprawled over the living room floor. Copying a poet’s work, in my own hand on to a blank page, made it come more alive for me.
Leave your Pocket Poem in our comments if you wish. If you are stuck for ideas of where to find poems, there are tons of websites dedicated to poetry. Check out one of these:
- Poetry 180 – a poem a day for American high schools
- Ted Kooser’s American Life In Poetry – click on Column Archive
- poets.org – more than 2500 poems from the Academy of American Poets
- Poetry Foundation – Poetry Tool archive
Feeling brave? Write down a poem or haiku you have written, slip it into your pocket (the things we carry), and read it to some friends this Thursday, April 17th. For inspiration, listen to the great Queen Latifah’s version of Poetry Man (she got into rapping from writing poetry). Or maybe you prefer the original from Phoebe Snow (I wore a deep wax groove into Phoebe’s 1974 debut album, Phoebe Snow).
Poetry Man by Phoebe Snow, posted by jassblue on YouTube
Thanks to Teri, for starting a poetry group and inviting all of us to come along. And to all the poets who have been inspiring us since the beginning of time — thank you.
-posted on red Ravine, Sunday, April 13th, 2008
-related to post, Desire And A Library Card — The Only Tools Necessary To Start A Poetry Group
QM, I’ve been encouraged to see how big Poetry Month is in both my daughters’ schools. Em has been walking around with a few poetry books, and last week she read me two poems that she wrote. Dee is studying poetry this month, too, in her middle school. And on Friday night the whole family went to the semi-finals of the Albuquerque Poetry Slam, the winner of which will land a place on the city’s official team, which competes nationally.
I enjoyed so much the Poetry Slam. We stayed to the end, and I plan to go to the next round this Wed night, and then to the Finals a bit later in the month. What I also want to say is, my girls loved it. I think because of the performance aspect and all this awareness from their classes, they were riveted to each performer. It also made me that much more aware of what makes a good poem.
I’m going to try my hand at poetry this month. I’m nervous about it. As you and I were talking, good poems look like they’re easy to write — and that’s part of what makes them good poems. But they’re not easy to write. They’re probably harder than most things.
LikeLike
ybonesy,
It is heartening for me to read about your daughters learning about and enjoying poetry. When was the last time I heard something good about children and literature? I can’t remember. If two girls somewhere are enjoying poetry, there are more. I was also really glad to hear that your children understood the poems–that they were accessible to the listener.
Thanks for this post, QM. I have my poem ready to go for this Thursday. I’ve been making a mental list of who I will read it to. I’m going to try to challenge myself. Not just read to the easy and obvious people. I want to try to read it to at least one person who is a stretch. The loud-mouth at work. A cocky teen. Or one of those people who announce they haven’t read a book since high school.
LikeLike
Oooooooohhhhh….I loved this clip of Phoebe Snow. I think I’ve played it about eight times. I have one of her CDs on hold at the library; I can’t wait to listen to an entire album.
I’m planning on reading a Ted Kooser poem this Thursday, one he wrote about his grandma in Iowa. It’s called “Applesauce.” But because I’ve already read it aloud to my mom on the phone (she’s a hardcore applesauce canner), I’ll need to pick another one out for her. She’d love the Maya Angelou poem we heard last Friday about Job. She reads her Bible every morning, and has likely read the book of Job 50 times.
LikeLike
If anyone has names of great poems for middle school students, I would sooo love any resources out there. I teach children and would like to get into this study with them.
LikeLike
[…] I went to a laundromat today 14 quarters per load of wash white towel with colors it was my only white Like the mom and the boy who likes to put the quarters into the machine They’re the only whites in the place Two women speaking Spanish sound like they’re cussing out the spin cycle A black man with white hair A black woman looks to be his daughter select the washer next to mine Mostly there are Indians eating French fries between folding sweat pants and Wrangler jeans I like it here like church on a Sunday morning the machines hum a white noise Like parishoners singing a low hymn cleansing our lives washing the sand out of our pants and the stains from our panties and my heart Industrial strength clean is like mass or the world as I see it bigger than I am no bleach required whites and colors spinning round together faithful forever faithful -Related to post Got Poetry (National Poem In Your Pocket Day) […]
LikeLike
Tonight I opened my email to find that a friend had sent me a Ted Kooser poem! What a lovely surprise! D
LikeLike
Sinclair, I’m especially impressed by how big a deal it is at the elementary school. Here’s what Em told me that they did yesterday:
-They wrote a haiku (other classes did other kinds of poems)
-They folded it up and put it in a little film cannister
-They decorated the cannister and tied a long string around it
-All the rest of this month they will wear their cannisters around their necks at school
-If someone asks, the kids will read their haikus and poems aloud
Isn’t that the coolest?!
Spiritdwel, I will check with Dee to find out what poems they’re covering in their 6th grade class and leave the titles here in the comments.
LikeLike
I got a poem this week in email, too, diddy. My friend sent “The Assignation” by Ciaran Carson.
In the body of the email, my friend writes: Earlier this week, I received this poem from poets.org’s April poem of the day subscription. It blew me away. Hope you enjoy it.
Wow. It wasn’t just him (my friend). This poem blew me away, too.
LikeLike
yb, I must correct my comment. The poem came from Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry (column#158). I see that QM has supplied the link in her post. It was written by a Kentucky poet, Frank Steele, “Part of a Legacy”. It was the perfect poem in the pocket for me. I am truly thankful for the friend who sent it my way! D
LikeLike
hi everyone, I took a little time off this last weekend and am just getting to the comments. So thankful for our readers!
ybonesy, I see evidence of your poetry work on the blog this morning with your new poem. And you took your whole family to the Poetry Slam in ABQ. Really great. I love how there is an emphasis on poetry in the schools this month, too. I know some poets don’t like to have a National Poetry Month. But I think it brings greater awareness of poetry to those who might not appreciate it. And think of all the good work we get to hear.
I especially like that your daughter is wearing her poem around her neck. That is super cool. It makes me want to do the same thing when I read my poem this Thursday. Honestly, I don’t think I can narrow it down to just one poem. I will have at least 3 with me and alternate between them.
yb, is “The Assignation” by Ciaran Carson one you can post here in the comments?
LikeLike
diddy, I’d love to see the Kooser poem if you’re up for adding it to the comments. He writes many poems about the Midwest. I think the mass appeal of Kooser and Oliver is that they write about the simple things in everyday life. Things that anyone can relate to across all the differences that we have. And they write a lot about Nature which surrounds us all.
I am also drawn to the poetry of Nikki Giovanni, Maya Angelou, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Joy Harjo. Oh, I just remembered Joy. I need to look at a few of her books this week, too. They are able to write about struggle and differences in ways that open me up rather than push me away.
LikeLike
Teri, I love that you read the Kooser poem “Applesauce” to your mom. What a treat. I ended up copying down the Oliver and the Angelou poems I read in our poetry group the last few months. I feel a connection to those two poets since I learned so much more about their lives over the last few meetings.
Oh, and I’m glad you liked the Phoebe Snow, Poetry Man. That debut album is one of her best. I like the Queen Latifah version of Poetry Man almost just as much though. I watched an interview with Queen Latifah last weekend (Liz had taped it) and she sang the song along with about 3 others.
About the Phoebe Snow song, Poetry Man, Latifah said it was a favorite of her mother’s. And after she (the Queen) recorded it, her mom stumbled across it on her IPod and she was all nervous she wouldn’t like it as much as the original. Well — her mom loved it.
I gained a new respect for Queen Latifah after seeing her in that interview. She has an amazing world view. Really thoughtful, caring, respectful person. One piece of advice she gave – don’t hang around negative people. Surround yourself with loving, supportive people in your inner circles. Let the others go.
LikeLike
Spiritdwel, I’m glad ybonesy is going to check with her daugher on the poems they are reading this month. Sounds like an excellent resource. Also check out the Poetry 180 for high school students. When I looked at the link, it seemed like some of those might be accessible to younger children. Some were less complex than others.
Sinclair, since reading your comment (#2), I have thought harder about who I might want to read to this Thursday. You are right — it might be better to push ourselves. The thing that came to mind for me was standing on a street corner for about 30 minutes and asking people that walk by if I can read them a short poem. That would REALLY stretch me. Well, I’m pondering it. 8)
LikeLike
QM, I think we were commenting at the same time. Check out my comment#9. I know that skywire received the same poem. Have her share it with you. Ah, memories! It is quite lovely & brings back fond memories of my Grandmother. D
LikeLike
Ah, diddy, got it! Yes, I’ll have skyWire share it with me. diddy, do you know who you are going to read your poem to this week? Or are you still thinking about it?
LikeLike
Here’s that poem, QM. Tell me what you think:
The Assignation
by Ciaran Carson
I think I must have told him my name was Juliette,
with four syllables, you said, to go with violette.
I envisaged the violet air that presages snow,
the dark campaniles of a city beginning to blur
a malfunctioning violet neon pharmacy sign
jittering away all night through the dimity curtains.
Near dawn you opened them to a deep fall and discovered
a line of solitary footprints leading to a porch:
a smell of candle-wax and frankincense; the dim murmur
of a liturgy you knew but whose language you did not.
The statues were shrouded in Lenten violet, save one,
a Virgin in a cope of voile so white as to be blue.
As was the custom there, your host informed you afterwards-
the church was dedicated to Our Lady of the Snows.
—
LikeLike
QuoinMonkey,
30 minutes on a street corner reading poetry would be incredibly interesting! If you do, I hope you’ll check in with us about the reaction of people.
ybonesy,
The idea of the poem in the film container is sensational. It’s nice for all of us to have an “excuse” to share poetry this Thursday and/or this month.
LikeLike
This is the poem I will be reading on Thursday:
Applesauce by Ted Kooser
I liked how the starry blue lid
of that saucepan lifted and puffed,
then settled back on a thin
hot pad of steam, and the way
her kitchen filled with the warm,
wet breath of apples, as if all
the apples were talking at once,
as if they’d come cold and sour
from chores in the orchard,
and were trying to shoulder in
close to the fire. She was too busy
to put in her two cents’ worth
talking to apples. Squeezing
her dentures with wrinkly lips,
she had to jingle and stack
the bright brass coins of the lids
and thoughtfully count out
the red rubber rings, then hold
each jar, to see if it was clean,
to a window that looked out
through her backyard into Iowa.
And with every third or fourth jar
she wiped steam from her glasses,
using the hem of her apron,
printed with tiny red sailboats
that dipped along with leaf-green
banners snapping, under puffs
of pale applesauce clouds
scented with cinnamon and cloves,
the only boats under sail
for at least two thousand miles.
LikeLike
QM, I plan on sharing the poem with my Dad. After all, it is his Mother than comes to mind when I read the poem. D
LikeLike
I like this idea QM …to carry a poem around in your pocket. The only problem is mine’s so dang long people would be running for cover to escape from “The Raven”
😉
LikeLike
heather, maybe you can have a poetry reading in your new gallery? Just an idea. 8)
diddy, makes sense. Let us know how he likes it.
Teri, the details in Applesauce really sing. They take me back to the kitchens of my mother, great aunt, and grandmother.
ybonesy, I like the simple, two-line, structure of The Assignation. It is unusual. It reads like both poetry and prose. There is also a turn at the end, a twist, kind of like haiku. And it is silent and reverent at the same time. Really nice.
LikeLike
Making a Fist
by Naomi Shihab Nye
For the first time, on the road north of Tampico,
I felt the life sliding out of me,
a drum in the desert, harder and harder to hear.
I was seven, I lay in the car
watching palm trees swirl a sickening pattern past the glass.
My stomach was a melon split wide inside my skin.
“How do you know if you are going to die?”
I begged my mother.
We had been traveling for days.
With strange confidence she answered,
“When you can no longer make a fist.”
Years later I smile to think of that journey,
the borders we must cross separately,
stamped with our unanswerable woes.
I who did not die, who am still living,
still lying in the backseat behind all my questions,
clenching and opening one small hand.
LikeLike
You can hear Nye read “Making a Fist” at Poets.org
LikeLike
Oh, that is wonderful, TheOtherIvy. So simple and yet it says so much. What stood out to me was the mother’s nonchalant confidence and how it must have soothed the child. Ah, so I’m not going to die after all. I will definitely listen to the poet read at Poets.org.
LikeLike
I had a Poem In Your Pocket VoiceMail this morning (I guess it was a Poem In Your VoiceMail!). A friend read “Rivers” by Langston Hughes. It was a great way to start the day (and another good idea of ways to share your poems today).
Here is one of the ones I am carrying in my pocket. It’s by Maya Angelou and honors:
Alvin Ailey: dancer/choreographer
James Baldwin: writer
Samuel Floyd: music professor
John Oliver Killens: novelist
Julian Mayfield: actor
_______________________________
AILEY, BALDWIN, FLOYD, KILLENS, AND MAYFIELD
by Maya Angelou
When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down
in tall grasses,
and even elephants
lumber after safety.
When great trees fall
in forests,
small things recoil into silence,
their senses
eroded beyond fear.
When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare, sterile.
We breathe, briefly.
Our eyes, briefly,
see with
a hurtful clarity.
Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
examines,
gnaws on kind words
unsaid,
promised walks
never taken.
Great souls die and
our reality, bound to
them, takes leave of us.
Our souls,
dependent upon their
nurture,
now shrink, wizened.
Our minds, formed
and informed by their radiance,
fall away.
We are not so much maddened
as reduced to the unutterable ignorance
of dark, cold
caves.
And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly. Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us,
They existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be
better. For they existed.
LikeLike
Beautiful, QM.
LikeLike
Mid-day Poem in Your Pocket Check-In:
When I thought of how this day and activity would go, I featured myself reading my Ted Kooser poem to everyone. After all, who wouldn’t want to hear one of his fabulous poems? I felt completely brave and bold…while still at home.
It is very different to be at work, looking around trying to determine who the safest person is to approach…the person least likely to think it is uncomfortably weird. There is almost no privacy where I work, so if I ask one person to listen, four others will hear. It is downright scary, and this exercise makes me aware of how foreign it is in our culture-at-large to hear a poem read out loud.
I have read it to two people, and one other passed by to listen. The reception has actually been one of delight. The last person I read “Applesauce” to said, “That’s the most artistic thing that’s ever happened around here.”
LikeLike
[…] poetry this week on red Ravine. Are you carrying your pocket poetry? Read all the details at Got Poetry? (National Poem In Your Pocket Day). Revel in the reactions of family and friends when you read your pocket poem. Or share lines of […]
LikeLike
I have enjoyed every poem posted in the comments. I am looking forward to reading my poem to my Dad this evening. I wonder what he will think? Will he appreciate it or will he think I have finally gone off my rocker? I am a bit nervous, but intend to follow through. This said, I would like to thank all who have posted their poems & will keep you posted to my father’s reaction. Peace to everyone! May peace be in your hearts. D
LikeLike
Teri & diddy, way to go for following through on reading your poems. I’m inspired! It hasn’t worked out exactly the way I thought either. It is much harder than it first seems to read out loud in environments that aren’t geared for poetry or writing. It takes guts, too!
Spiritdwel, I wanted to let you know I found a resource that has teacher curriculums, lesson plans, and poetry for every age — K-12. It’s part of the NYC Department of Education website. Here are 2 links:
NYC Department of Education – Educator Resources — Poetry Resources – K-12 (LINK)
NYC Poem In Your Pocket Teacher’s Resources (LINK)
National Poetry Month runs through the end of April. So maybe these will be helpful!
LikeLike
QM, thank you so much for these resources. I will have to spend some time with these. They look loaded with good things to do with the children I teach. My attention is a bit divided right now because my grandmother is coming into what I believe are the last few days/week, at most, of her life. This is what I have been writing about over the past several months, and I am having so much difficulty giving much to my job. It seems to be a writer’s issue…creating time and space to stay with the process when life keeps demanding. Thank you so much though for these links, and I believe when all is over with in the next few weeks I will be able to work my way back to “creating”. I am heading home over my beloved mountains of North Carolina tomorrow…
LikeLike
Spiritdwel, you are welcome. Sounds like a difficult time. It is good you can go and be with your grandmother. Sometimes it is enough just to be — to hold the space. Your creative life, your writing, will not abandon you. Safe travels down to North Carolina. We will be thinking about you. And say hello to those beautiful mountains.
LikeLike
[…] -related to posts: Celebrate Poetry (Let Me Count The Ways), and Got Poetry? (National Poem In Your Pocket Day) […]
LikeLike
Well, my Dad was not at home when I called, so I read the poem to my Mother. She loved it! Seems it brought back memories of her own Mother. Both of my Grandmothers wrote poetry & my Mother has promised to share what she has with me. When I read her the poem tonight, we both cried. It was wonderful & I know she enjoyed me reading it to her! Felt good! D
LikeLike
I loved hearing these accounts. Teri, I have to say that I chuckled inside when I read what the one person said about that being the most artistic thing that had happened there. I chuckled because I can picture that. My work is similiar. Just so not about literature or art. Yet, we create every day. But it’s removed. Good going. I would have been bold, too, visualizing it but then reality would hit.
diddy, thanks for sharing that. Wow, just thinking of your mother, her own mother on the one hand being someone who wrote poetry and then her daughter reading this poem. I see her bundled between this profound love, of life and nature.
LikeLike
Spiritdwel, best wishes to you as you head out to the mountains of North Carolina. I bet they are beautiful.
I have another link for you, more along the lines of types of poems. My daughter’s 6th grade class is using it. But, unfortunately, no specific poems to read, although each of the types of poems does have examples of that type.
http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/types.html
I really liked this link when I checked it out.
As we say in Spanish, vaya con Dios.
LikeLike
Winding down on April 17th…
I’m going to take your advice, QM, and keep sharing poetry this month. I think I’ll continue to carry a poem (though maybe find a new one), and share using “It’s National Poetry Month” as my excuse.
It’s an act of service. It’s a way to keep literature alive. If writers don’t do it, who will?
LikeLike
ybonesy, Excellent link! Thank you so much. It truly breaks up the notion that poetry is “just one way”. Thanks to both you and QM for these links.
LikeLike
diddy, Liz sent your poem to me this morning from her American Life In Poetry email. Glad you read it to your mother. I’m posting it here. Love the end. In my mind, I run together — honeysuckle sleeping on sunlight. Lovely image.
_______________________
American Life in Poetry: Column 158
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
Putting bed pillows onto the grass to freshen, it’s a pretty humble subject for a poem, but look how Kentucky poet, Frank Steele, deftly uses a sun-warmed pillow to bring back the comfort and security of childhood.
Part of a Legacy
I take pillows outdoors to sun them
as my mother did. “Keeps bedding fresh,”
she said. It was April then, too–
buttercups fluffing their frail sails,
one striped bee humming grudges, a crinkle
of jonquils. Weeds reclaimed bare ground.
All of these leaked somehow
into the pillows, looking odd where they
simmered all day, the size of hams, out of place
on grass. And at night I could feel
some part of my mother still with me
in the warmth of my face as I dreamed
baseball and honeysuckle, sleeping
on sunlight.
_______________________
Poem copyright (c) 2000 by Frank Steele, whose most recent book of poetry is “Singing into That Fresh Light,” co-authored with Peggy Steele, ed. Robert Bly, Blue Sofa Press, 2001. Reprinted from “Blue Sofa Review,” Vol. II, no. 1, Spring 2000, by permission of Frank Steele. Introduction copyright (c) 2008 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.
LikeLike
I’m heading out for the day. But first, I’ve been meaning to go back to this comment from oliverowl — (Comment 14 on An Evening With Elizabeth Gilbert & Anne Lamott (LINK).
She left a poem by a young poet named Jemma Leech and I didn’t want it to get lost. This seems like a good place to add it.
From oliverowl:
I want to share with everyone a poem by Jemma Leech, who has cerebral palsy and cannot speak, but communicates by touching an alphabet connected to a computer. This was written by her in August of 2006, when she was 9 years old.
From Nobody to Somebody
I am nobody.
I hide in myself,
Velvet-lined
Against the cold stares
Of the world.
I am nobody.
I keep away from the hatred,
Stone-clad
Against those who mock
And deride.
I am nobody.
I remain in darkness,
Wool-insulated
Against the pain
Of their contempt.
But when I am asleep
I am somebody.
Stripped naked
Of all the trappings of myself.
An empress of lands of plenty,
With sackfuls of love, respect
And self-worth.
So please,
Let me sleep.
Copyright (c) 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures
There was a report on this remarkable girl on the evening news on ABC. Her autobiography was the winner in a competition when she was only 8 yrs. old…and the panel of judges did not know of her palsy beforehand!!! You can read it at ABC News.com. I wept!
LikeLike
QM & yb, it was actually easier to read the poem than I thought it would be. As I began to read it, I felt very comfortable. I’m glad now that I read it to my Mother. She handles fond memories much better than my Dad.(he gets really choked up) But I still plan on reading it to him, probably tonight. Thank you for printing the poem. I received it from a dear red Ravine friend. This poem inspired me so much that this morning, I brought out some old family photos & framed them. They are now proudly displayed in my living room! D
LikeLike
[…] to posts Got Poetry (National Poem In Your Pocket Day), Getting To Know Pablo Neruda, and Neruda – Solo La […]
LikeLike
diddy, I am going through some very old photographs. As I write these lines, they are spread out in front of me. There is one of my grandmother, one of Mom, two that I’m leaving out on my studio desk. They must be over 50 years old. There is one from 1959 when we lived in Tennessee for a while. I am sitting between my two grandmothers on a 50’s couch. Daddy is sitting by Mom holding J. in his lap. Pop is there. And an Easter basket is resting on the oak floor. Mom and I have matching dresses on that she sewed by hand. J. must have just said something or cooed because Elise is smiling and looking at him. I don’t know…I just find that photograph so comforting.
Old family photos really take you back. Some are comforting. Some bring back hard times. All memories. All mixed in there together. I’m so glad you framed some old family photos for your living room. And that you were inspired by poetry to do that — well, that says so much.
LikeLike
QM, when you come to visit could I have a copy of the photo with Daddy, Mom, & J.? Pop, he was such a kind soul! I am sorry that I didn’t get to meet Elise. I would love to see a photo of her! Yeh, the pictures do take me back! I chose one of me Grandmother surrounded by her prized “Pom Pom plant” & another of my Grandfather decked out in his waders & fishing vest, holding a trophy fish that he had caught. Another of my Mother’s Mother, when she was younger. She was quite beautiful & died when I was only 4 years old. But I remember her well. D
LikeLike
diddy, for sure. Maybe I can scan it for you. I have to get my scanner set up here. It’s a small color photo and I think once I get it on to digital. I’ll be able to see even more details. I have a bunch of photographs (all eras) I want to scan so I can archive them and share them with the family. I’ll keep you posted on that. Slow but sure. 8)
I love photography so much because it takes you right back to a memory. Usually, the same photograph brings out different memories for each person in the photograph. There is a layering that goes on that I like to pay attention to. I’m glad you got your photos out and framed.
LikeLike
I was at a dinner party last night, a group of mixed ages. I had my poem along, and pulled it out to read. I told the group the scoop about National Poetry Month, and a 16-year-old in the group spoke for the first time the entire evening. She told everyone she had written a poem for a contest, won, and it was being published in an anthology. She had a copy, and read it for the group…a poem about her best friend’s murder.
I don’t care that I got to read my poem. At all. But it was amazing to create a venue for this young girl to share something she wrote.
LikeLike
Teri, how magical for that to happen when you brought your poem out to share. And then, that the 16-year-old actually had a copy of hers with her and was able to read it to the whole group.
Moments like that are no accident. You created an opening, and something important — the grief and loss around her friend who was murdered — was able to slip through. Powerful.
LikeLike
I was reading a Q & A session between poet Gary Soto & an editor. I found the following helpful on the path to having a friendship with poetry:
Q: Why are poems so difficult to understand?
A (Gary’s response): Poetry is a concentrated form of writing; so much meaning is packed into such a little space. Therefore, each word in a poem is very important and is chosen very carefully to convey just the right meaning. For example, the word tree might stand for more than a tree in an orchard. It might symbolize life itself, or it might symbolize the strength of your grandfather or your father. Rain may symbolize tears; dusk may symbolize approaching death.
Another reason why poetry can be difficult to understand is that you’re not used to reading it. The more you read it, the better you get at understanding words and lines.
LikeLike
Teri, this quote summarizes for me why poems can also be so intimidating. I know that as a younger person, I felt ill-equipped to understand the deeper, subtle meanings. I remember professors of literature pushing us to get beyond the surface, literal meaning of the word or the phrase, and I often felt left behind. I think there was a sense that since I hadn’t come from a family where literature was revered or even accessed, I was labeling myself as not capable of understanding poetry.
I’m glad you posted this excerpt from the Q&A session. His advice about “the more you read it, the better you get” is the perfect antidote for the insecurities I’ve personally had regarding poetry.
LikeLike
Yes, I have felt the same way about poetry–paragraphs written in a foreign tongue for an exclusive few. I make conscious effort to read poetry that is accessible; I know if I don’t, I’ll give up. And, if Gary Soto knows what he’s talking about, I will get better and better.
I found a series at the library that I’ve checked out-though haven’t started reading. The series is called “Poetry for Young People.” Each is beautifully illustrated, each written by one of the masters: Walt Whitman, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Edna St. Vincent Millay, William Yeats. Each of the 13 authors is someone I don’t have a handle on at all, but want at least a basic sense of. And since they’re picture books from the children’s section, they aren’t intimidating in the least. 🙂
LikeLike
[…] to posts Got Poetry? (National Poem In Your Pocket Day) and Ten Things About Sony The […]
LikeLike
I’m late, of course, but what a wonderful idea.
LikeLike
amuirin, never to late for a pocket poem! In fact, I just remembered, I’ve been carrying a haiku I wrote a few days ago on a Post-It note in my pants pocket. I need to go find it and post it. 8)
LikeLike
QM, In honor of my Grandmother’s on Mother’s Day, I wanted to share the following poem, which has always been a favorite for me. So for Catherine & Elizabeth:
William Wordsworth
Lucy (v)
A slumber did my spirit seal;
I had no human fears:
She seem’d a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years.
No motion has she now, no force;
She neither hears nor sees:
Roll’d round in earth’s diurnal course,
With rocks, and stones, and trees.
D
LikeLike
Beautiful poem, diddy. Thanks for sharing.
I hope your Mother’s Day was restful.
LikeLike
diddy, really beautiful poem for your grandmothers. They have very distinguished names, too: Catherine & Elizabeth. We seem to have a similar relationship to our grandmothers and I like that. It was something I had not known about you before.
Thank you for posting the poem, diddy. William Wordsworth. ybonesy, doesn’t the name Wordsworth automatically bring back Baca’s book A Place To Stand – WRITING TOPIC – A PLACE TO STAND (LINK) – where he would repeat the word Wordsworth when he was learning about poetry. I just remember Natalie reading that section of Baca’s book – Wordsworth – and it always comes to mind.
LikeLike
QM, I also love the names of my grandmothers. The weird thing is that Catherines middle name is Elizabeth & Elizabeth’s is Catherine. Go figure! & Wordsworth, yes,very cool. The poem is one that my Grandma Lizzie shared with me when I was younger & recently came across it in a book I have titled The Gift of Great Poetry, selected & introduced by Lucien Srtryk. A variety of great poems. D
LikeLike
[…] got to participate in National Poem in Your Pocket Day in April. We wouldn’t have known about it had I not been searching poetry […]
LikeLike
[…] poem came out. It was written stream of consciousness, like Writing Practice. I’ll call it a Practice Poem, a work in progress. I did only light editing, a few revisions. I don’t claim to be a poet. But some days poetry […]
LikeLike
[…] -related to post, Got Poetry? (National Poem In Your Pocket Day) […]
LikeLike
More poetry this week; in our Poetry & Meditation Group we read from Emily Dickinson. She never titled her poems and few were published in her lifetime. After her death, Emily’s sister found her poetry and made sure it got published which gave us the over 1000 poems we enjoy today.
You can find links from ybonesy and more discussion on Emily at this post – On Providence, Old Journals, & Thoreau (LINK).
I’m leaving one of Emily’s poems we read here. (There are no titles. But it’s number 1659 out of 1775 – according to the Johnson numbers added to the 1950’s Complete Poems to try to establish order to her poetry by date):
Fame is a fickle food
Upon a shifting plate
Whose table once a
Guest but not
The second time is set.
Whose crumbs the crows
inspect
And with ironic caw
Flap past it to the Farmer’s
Corn —
Men eat of it and die.
-from Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
LikeLike
I need to read more by her. I’d always enjoyed how Dickinson was so pithy in her poetry! I wish I could do that! It’s like her poems are the closest to haiku!
Anyway, thank you for sharing this, QM! I need me some poetry break in this crazy time of exams and homework! LOL
Have a great day to you, yb, and all red Raviners! 🙂
LikeLike
a~lotus, glad you could take a poetry break during your exams! Yeah, each line Dickinson writes is short and full of meaning. I noticed there is usually a line in each poem that sticks out — you could take it and do a Writing Practice on it. In this one (#61), it’s Fame is a fickle food. We were talking about that line at the end of Poetry Group.
LikeLike
[…] poets & poems Keep Poetry Alive! […]
LikeLike
[…] -related to post: Got Poetry? (National Poem In Your Pocket Day) […]
LikeLike
[…] to posts: Got Poetry? (National Poem In Your Pocket Day), Celebrate Poetry (Let Me Count The […]
LikeLike
I went to Mass today, and started the new year in meditation and by lighting a candle. During his homily, the priest read us a poem written in the 1950s. He encouraged us to close our eyes, and he read to us. It was lovely, really…a sweet and heavy hush fell over the people gathered.
He’s keeping poetry alive.
LikeLike
[…] -with gratitude to Teri who took the leap and started our Poetry Group over a year ago, has provided strong leadership, and helps Keep Poetry Alive! […]
LikeLike
[…] to posts: Got Poetry? (National Poem In Your Pocket Day), Celebrate Poetry (Let Me Count The […]
LikeLike
Celebrate the second national Poem In Your Pocket Day on Thursday, April 30, 2009! (It must be the 7th for New York.) All the links and resources are in the post above. More info as we get closer to April, National Poetry Month!
LikeLike
Sometime, it’s the little things I can do to support poetry that make me happy. At the post office today, there were 15 varieties of stamps to choose from. I picked the Edgar Allen Poe stamps; I want to encourage the US Postal Service to continue to care about writers.
Here’s what it says on the sidebar of the stamps:
“Edgar Allan Poe was one of American’s greatest poets and fiction writers. A masterful storyteller with a vivid imagination, Poe (1809-1849) is famous for having written such gripping tales as The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Black Cat. His Murders in the Rue Morgue, featuring a brilliant French investigator name E. Auguste Dupin, has been called the first detective story. Poe also wrote some of the most memorable poems in America literature. These include Eldorado, Annabel Lee, The Bells, and The Raven, a masterpiece of rhyme and rhythm first published in 1845.”
LikeLike
Teri, I love it that there are Edgar Allan Poe stamps. Oddy, I JUST re-read The Raven last week and thoroughly enjoyed it. I used to read Poe in my room in Pennsylvania when I was growing up. I had a little book shelf with a few books by Poe, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I just love that Frankenstein was created by a woman author. I still like to read mysteries. It’s carried over into adulthood. I guess it all started way, way back with Nancy Drew. 8)
LikeLike
BTW, Teri, I wanted to comment that your mission of encouraging the U.S. Postal Service to continue to care about writers is admirable. I should do my part and pick up some Poe stamps. I wonder how they choose what people will be on stamps? I’m sure it’s a long process from conception to artwork to engraving or painting to stamps. A stamp like that is a work of art in and of itself.
LikeLike
Like Lincoln, Poe was born in 1809. So, I suppose they’ve picked him based on his 200th birthday. They had Lincoln stamps, too.
Would you recommend The Raven? I’ve never read it.
LikeLike
Teri, The Raven is one of those fun poems to read outloud. And the lines just stick with you. It’s one of his more famous poems. And I think it was written around 1845, about 4 years before he died. I was looking at it for some research I was doing. I really like reading poetry out loud, even to myself. And with the poetry of this era, it can be really fun and dramatic to read aloud. I think Poe’s quite the character. His life and mysterious death are just so fascinating.
Hey, if you come back to this post, what was on the Lincoln stamps? Is it one of the more famous images? Or one of the more recent photographs that has emerged. When we were watching all those Lincoln documentaries, they all talked about how careful and intentional he was about his image. Part of the reason we have all those photographs of him, kind of like a timeline of his life. Yet they all kind of have that same, semi-regal pose.
LikeLike
You’ve got me interested in The Raven now. Especially to read it out loud.
As I recall, the Lincoln stamp was a painting, not one of his famous photographs. I’ll go so far as to say I think it had two images: one in color of him looking straight ahead and the other a black-and-white portrait (both on the same stamp).
I wasn’t much focused on it though; it was all-systems-go for Edgar P.
LikeLike
Oh, good. The Raven out loud. Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary….. Have fun with it. It was a time when the exclamation point still reigned supreme. I wonder when it fell out of vogue? It’s actually about a sad subject as were many of his poems. There’s that mystery again. Some of his poetry was dedicated to Miss Elizabeth Barrett Browning. He seemed quite fond of her. 8)
LikeLike
I finished reading The Raven; I feel pretty spiffy to have “one of the most popular American poems ever written” under my belt.
It surprised me; I thought it was going to be scary and horrifying. I didn’t know it was about rejected love, loneliness, and despair.
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a sound recording of Edgar Allan reading The Raven?
LikeLike
Teri, glad you got to read The Raven. Amazing that it’s one of the most popular poems, isn’t it, since he did not make a good living from his writing while he was alive. I think he was also born the same year as Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. In fact, Darwin and Lincoln were born on the same day. Stranger than fiction! I’ve always been a big Poe fan; I’ve been studying up again. 8)
LikeLike
[…] -related to: NPR: Reading List & Interview with Billy Collins, Got Poetry? (National Poem In Your Pocket Day) […]
LikeLike
Last year for “Poem in Your Pocket” day I took a Ted Kooser poem to my job at the Minnesota State Fair. It was the poem “Applesauce,” a poem about Ted’s grandma cooking apples in her Iowa farmhouse. It took a fair amount of courage to approach co-workers to ask their permission to read a poem.
About a week ago, one of the women I work with saw a book of Yusef Komunyakaa poetry on my desk. She said, “Oh remember last year when you read me that poem?” I told her I did remember, and (with her permission) would read her another one on April 30th.
She smiled, and I think was a smile of anticipation.
LikeLike
Teri, it’s amazing that she remembered that you read her a poem last year for Poem In Your Pocket Day. Obviously, it had a big impact on her…here it is a year later. 8) Will be fun to see what you read to her this year. I’ve already been thinking about what poems I might like to read. It does take courage to walk up to people and ask them if you can read them a poem. Especially if it’s a longer poem and they have to take a little time to settle into it.
LikeLike
Poem in Your Pocket Day is probably not the day to introduce “Howl” to people. 🙂
LikeLike
[…] to posts: Got Poetry? (National Poem In Your Pocket Day), Book Talk – Do You Let Yourself […]
LikeLike
Happy Poem In Your Pocket Day 2009! There are tons of ideas for poems in this post and at the links if you are lost for one to read. Or the best thing yet — write your own and take the risk of reading it. (I haven’t quite gotten there yet.)
If you go to the Poets.org link in the body of this post (after “How can you participate”), you will link to everything you need to know about National Poem In Your Pocket Day from the Academy of American Poets. (There is also more info at the Billy Collins post link 5 comments above this one.)
I’m actually carrying two poems today. One is from Billy Collins. And one from a poet friend who sent out a poem she wrote in an email yesterday. Her poem is called “Leavings.” They both have to do with life and death, the space between the two, and making the most of the time that we have left.
I’ve been thinking about that a lot this week. We also had a Guest on red Ravine yesterday who wrote about the death and funeral of poet Bill Holm [See A Journey For Bill (LINK)] who died unexpectedly this year.
Here is the short Billy Collins poem I carry today. I know a place you can hear him read the poem as well. But I’m going to drop that into the comments on the Billy Collins post.
____________________
No Time
by Billy Collins
In a rush this weekday morning,
I tap the horn as I speed past the cemetery
where my parents are buried
side by side beneath a slab of smooth granite.
Then, all day, I think of him rising up
to give me that look
of knowing disapproval
while my mother calmly tells him to lie back down.
LikeLike
Thanks for the reminder about Poem in Your Pocket Day! I really enjoyed your Billy Collins poem, QM.
Last year, I read my poem to two people. I shooting for at least three today.
****
Silence in North Dakota by Bill Holm
On the lip of the Killdeer Canyon,
five hundred feet over the tan buttes
that flank the little Missouri,
in the middle of North Dakota,
in the middle of North America,
in the middle of the Western Hemisphere,
on tax day in the middle of April,
at almost the end of the second millennium,
the Universe held its breath
for a full minute.
Complete inviolate silence–
not a crow cawed,
not a frog croaked,
the wind shut its mouth.
The cars and tractors stopped,
the TVs all went dead,
words failed for no good reason,
clouds scudded but kept quiet about it.
And everything alive or
what is sometimes called not-alive
listened to everything else
stones, motors, crocuses, blood pulsing.
And then the crow cawed
(that seemed to be the signal)
and the Universe exhaled
and everything started again.
But for that minute we heard–what is was really like.
LikeLike
Teri, beautiful poem from Bill. I can picture that spot in the middle of North Dakota where the Universe held its breath. North Dakota is a place of great beauty and silence. When I visit there with Liz and stand on her ancestral lands, there is so much wind. But once in a while — everything stops.
BTW, Teri, aren’t you covering Naomi Shihab Nye in Poetry Group next month? I noticed that The Other Ivy (she’s no longer blogging) left a poem last year by Nye in our comments (see April 16, 2008 at 6:39 pm). And in the comment after, a link to hear Nye read it. It’s another poem about contemplating death.
LikeLike
QM,
How do you get to old comments, step-by-step? I tried a few things, and couldn’t figure it out.
LikeLike
Teri, it’s kind of odd. The simplest way is to just scroll back up until you get to the timestamp I mentioned — April 16, 2008 at 6:39 pm. I didn’t add a link but can add one here if that makes it easier. They used to number the comments which was so much better and easier (in my humble opinion) to cross-reference and talk back and forth about different comments. But WordPress decided to get rid of the numbers when they added the comment reply nesting feature (which we don’t use because we found it way too confusing). They also added permalinks to comments (which were actually already there in the last version, so I’m not quite sure what the additional feature is).
To make a long story short — you have to scroll back through the comments to the date and time I mentioned. It’s on the right corner of each comment. But to make it easy, I’ll add a permalink to the Nye comment here:
The Other Ivy’s Comment — Making a Fist by Naomi Shihab Nye (LINK)
LikeLike
Got it, QM.
Yes, Naomi Shihad Nye is our May poet. I have found (at the library, of course) an amazing clip on a cassette tape of Bill Moyer interviewing her about poetry. You will love it, QM, as she mentions haiku specifically.
LikeLike
Here is my poem for today, which I have read out loud to myself 8) —
YOUR FEET
by Pablo Neruda
When I can not look at your face
I look at your feet.
Your feet of arched bone,
your hard little feet.
I know that they support you,
and that your gentle weight
rises upon them.
Your waist and your breasts,
the doubled purple
of your nipples,
the sockets of your eyes
that have just flown away,
your wide fruit mouth,
your red tresses,
my little tower.
But I love your feet
only because they walked
upon the earth and upon
the wind and upon the waters,
until they found me.
LikeLike
Liz sent me a link to a Newsweek article about a poet we read in our Poetry & Meditation Group, Kay Ryan:
The Reluctant Poet Laureate (LINK)
She seems like such a humble woman. It’s refreshing in our culture when such humility is rewarded.
LikeLike
A couple more things about Kay. I find her hopelessness hopeful. It means it can happen to any of us. From the Newsweek link in the comment above:
Her reluctance (or inability) to participate in the more established circles, however, meant that she was in the same boat as thousands of hopeful amateurs—throwing a message in a bottle into the sea and hoping to be discovered. “I just felt hopeless about ever getting published,” Ryan says.
And one more quote from her about publishing:
“One of the elements of an art is the fact that it communicates. The transaction isn’t complete if you don’t publish.” – Poet Kay Ryan
LikeLike
[…] testament to the value of poetry, an art form whose readership is dropping. I find the ancient haiku poets inspiring. It is […]
LikeLike
[…] You can find helpful links, definitions, and read more about the relationship between the forms in haiku 2 (one-a-day). Deep bows to Natalie and Clark. And to the poets who visit red Ravine, and help keep poetry alive. […]
LikeLike
[…] You can find helpful links, definitions, and read more about the relationship between the poetry forms in haiku 2 (one-a-day). Deep bows to Natalie and Clark. And to the poets who visit red Ravine, and help keep poetry alive. […]
LikeLike
[…] to posts: Got Poetry? (National Poem In Your Pocket Day), The Poet Writes Back — Gary Soto, Which Came First, The Grasshopper Or The […]
LikeLike
It’s National Poetry Month and Poem In Your Pocket Day is coming up on Thursday, April 29th, 2010! I’ve got a couple of poems already picked out that I’ll carry in my pocket that day.
The New York City website mentions a cool project — the 2008 Envelope Project from poet and teacher John Waldman. The first line of a poem is written on the outside of an envelope, a jumpstart to composing your own. Then you read the poem in the envelope and the one just written.
In celebration of National Poetry Month in April, cities all over the country will celebrate the 8th annual Poem In Your Pocket day (PIYP) on Thursday, April 29, 2010. Join in the excitement by carrying a poem in your pocket; write your own poem or borrow one from your favorite poet; just make sure to share it with your friends, family, and colleagues.
LikeLike
I’ve got “Poem In Your Pocket” written on my calendar, and just looked at it this morning. I haven’t chosen a poem yet, but plan to participate fully next Thursday.
LikeLike
Picked out a few poems for Poem In Your Pocket Day this Thursday. Dropping the first one in here. One from Pablo Neruda called “Poetry.”
Poetry
And it was at that age…Poetry arrived
in search of me. I don’t know, I don’t know where
it came from, from winter or a river.
I don’t know how or when,
no they were not voices, they were not
words, nor silence,
but from a street I was summoned,
but from the branches of night,
abruptly from the others,
among violent fires
or returning alone,
there I was without a face
and it touched me.
I did not know what to say, my mouth
had no way
with names,
my eyes were blind,
and something started in my soul,
fever or forgotten wings,
and I made my own way,
deciphering
that fire,
and I wrote the first faint line,
faint, without substance, pure
nonsense,
pure wisdom
of someone who knows nothing,
and suddenly I saw
the heavens
unfastened
and open,
planets,
palpitating plantations,
shadow perforated,
riddled
with arrows, fire and flowers,
the winding night, the universe.
And I, infinitesimal being,
drunk with the great starry
void,
likeness, image of
mystery,
felt myself a pure part
of the abyss,
I wheeled with the stars,
my heart broke loose on the wind.
LikeLike
I have two picked out for tomorrow: “Driving Toward the Lac Qui Parle River” by Robert Bly (my everlasting favorite poem) and this one by Ruth Stone:
In The Next Gallaxy
Things will be different
No one will lose their sight,
their hearing, their gall bladder.
It will be all Catskills with brand
new wrap-around verandas.
The idea of Hitler will not
have vibrated yet.
While back here
they are still cleaning out
pockets of wrinkled
Nazis hiding in Argentina.
But in the next galaxy,
certain planets will have true
blue skies and drinking water.
LikeLike
Good choices, Teri. I love Ruth Stone. I still secretly hope for a postcard. 8) I have one more I hope to drop into the comments tomorrow. (Robert would be happy at your choice.)
LikeLike
I read my poem to five people. I’m going to remember for next year that the shorter the poem, the more comfortable the receiver is. Being read a poem is an unusual experience in 2010, and I want to make it as gentle as possible. When I pulled out the Robert Bly poem, the receiver Jerry said, “Are you going to read me all that?” I’m taking note.
LikeLike
Today begins National Poetry Month. Poem-in-your-pocket day is Thursday, April 14th. What will you read?
LikeLike
Teri, I’ve already started researching poems! Last night, Liz and I read poems out loud to each other from Minnesota poet Heid E. Erdrich’s National Monuments. I read Guidelines for the Treatment of Sacred Objects. Liz read Butter Maiden and Maize Girl Survive Death Leap. I’m also reading a couple of essays by poet Gary Snyder from an aging First Edition of The Old Ways that was given to me some time ago. I want to read a poem out loud every day, at least for the month of April. I like the idea of making poetry a part of my life every day, but it’s not always possible. I believe National Poetry Month raises awareness across the country about the many aspects of poets and poetry and how they have impacted the world. Do you know what you’ll be reading for Poem In Your Pocket?
LikeLike
I haven’t picked a poem for April 14th yet, but it’s on my mind. I’m currently listening to a CD of Anne Sexton reading her own work; I’m all about Anne S. this week. If you ask me, she was wide-awake when she was in the mental institution.
LikeLike
[…] is also National Poetry Month and I’m delighted to have received several submissions that I’ll be posting over the […]
LikeLike
Mark Strand’s “The Coming of Light” is in my pocket today. It’s a wonderful poem about good things & aging.
I first saw this poem on Jude’s refrigerator when the Midwestern Writers Group was meeting at her place by Lake Michigan. Thanks, Jude.
“Even this late it happens:
the coming of love,
the coming of light.
You wake and the candles
are lit as if by themselves,
stars gather, dreams pour into your pillows,
sending up warm bouquets of air.
Even this late the bones of the body shine
And tomorrow’s dust flares into breath.”
LikeLike
Teri, a beautiful poem by Mark Strand. The last two lines are perfect. “Tomorrow’s dust flares into breath.”
I carried a Mary Oliver poem in my pocket this year. I was going through an old poetry book and found a handout that was given to us when we went to see Mary Oliver at Plymouth Congregational Church on May 7th, 2007. When I go to hear authors, I often buy books and whatever was handed out that night ends up journeying along with me, tucked inside the pages, wherever the book goes.
“I Looked Up” was the poem that was printed that night:
“I looked up and there it was
among the green branches of the pitchpines—
thick bird,
a ruffle of fire trailing over the shoulders and down the back—
color of copper, iron, bronze—
lighting up the dark branches of the pine.
What misery to be afraid of death.
What wretchedness, to believe only in what can be proven.
When I made a little sound
it looked at me, then it looked past me.
Then it rose, the wings enormous and opulent,
and, as I said, wreathed in fire.”
[from White Pine, HB&C 1994]
Mary Oliver
Co-sponsored by The Loft & Women Spirit
Literary Witnesses, Plymouth Congregational Church
May 7th, 2007, Minneapolis
LikeLike
Quoin,
When I went to Bill Holm’s book release at Plymouth (after he died) they gave us “Letting Go of What Cannot Be Held Back” on beautiful paper. I still have it. Just like you have the poem of Mary Oliver’s. Treasures all.
Maybe we’ll get something tonight at Gary Snyder’s reading!
LikeLike
Teri, and indeed we did receive a gift at Gary Snyder’s reading! I tucked it inside one of the Gary Snyder books I bought from Birchbark last night. And years from now, I’ll open the book and there it will be — “For All” by Gary Snyder. It was kind of cool to recite it as a group as the last thing we did before we left the reading at Plymouth Congregational last night. Ah, to be alive!
I pledge allegiance
I pledge allegiance to the soil
of Turtle Island,
and to the beings who thereon dwell
one ecosystem
in diversity
under the sun
With joyful interpenetration for all.
-excerpt from Gary Snyder’s “For All”
LikeLike
When we recited “For All” as a group, I found it very satisfying. And I thought about how rare it is we all say something in unison. Singing in unison is more common, but the power of the spoken word is even better.
LikeLike
Sadly, poet and songwriter Phoebe Snow (LINK) died this week. I loved her music and am sure I wore a deep groove in her 1970’s album with “Poetry Man.” She took a leave from her career shortly after her great success to take care of her daughter. Tomorrow night, we will be going to the Fitzgerald to see Janis Ian, a friend of Phoebe’s. Maybe she will sing something in her honor. Both Phoebe and Janis, to me, are great poets of their time. They just happen to put their poems to music.
Phoebe Snow, ‘Poetry Man’ Singer, Dies at 60 (LINK)
Phoebe Snow Obituary in the Guardian (LINK) – • Phoebe Snow (Phoebe Ann Laub), singer-songwriter, born 17 July 1950; died 26 April 2011
LikeLike
[…] on red Ravine, Saturday, January 28th, 2012, gogyohka inspired by Irish poet John O’Donohue after listening to one of his last interviews before his unexpected death in […]
LikeLike
[…] to posts: Does Poetry Matter?, Got Poetry? National Poem In Your Pocket Day, Emily’s […]
LikeLike
It’s the first day of National Poetry month! Poem In Your Pocket Day 2012 is coming up fast. Celebrate Poem In Your Pocket Day on April 26th, 2012 (LINK). If you need ideas about poems to read, check out the link!
LikeLike
I introduced Poem in Your Pocket Day to the students in my writing practice classes. Spreading the goodness of poetry.
LikeLike
Teri, that is wonderful! I have surrounded myself with good poetry books all month: Naomi Shihab Nye, Joy Harjo, Joyce Sutphen. I really enjoyed seeing Naomi Shihab Nye with you, Carol, and Liz. I will never forget her talking about her grandmother. Here are the first lines from Nye’s children’s book: Sitti’s Secrets. It’s illustrated by Nancy Carpenter. I love the illustration on the first page with these lines:
LikeLike