by Kat | May 18, 2023 | General, Poetry
I do not recall when I first stumbled across this Rilke poem… but it has become a frequent guest of my morning meditations as I read it, prayer like, to help me begin my day…
I hope this poem finds a spot in your day to lift you as you remind yourself “I am!”
Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower
by Rainer Maria Rilke
Quiet friend who has come so far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,
what batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.
In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.
And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.
Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower by Rainer Maria Rilke from Sonnets to Orpheus II, 29. Translation by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows.
Please stop and see what Kym and Bonny are sharing today!
See you all back here on Monday, have a great weekend everyone!
by Kat | Apr 28, 2023 | General, In This Moment, Poetry
I have plans for lots of hikes, birding, and a plethora of good food…. (that is if the weather cooperates… right now, it looks like there will be lots of rain… sigh, lol)
See you all back here May 8! Have a great weekend all!
by Kat | Apr 27, 2023 | General, Poetry
It is my favorite day… in my favorite month. The idea that you can carry poems with you… what a delightful thing! Today we are all sharing some poems for your pockets…
Today, I am sharing one for all of us for whom sleep is, at times, elusive. Apparently, dear Billy Collins is also similarly afflicted and he has some wisdom wit for us. I have memorized this bit of wit and contemplate it all too frequently… but at least I know I am in good company!
3:00 AM
by Billy Collins
Only my hand
is asleep,
but it’s a start.
3:00 AM from Musical Tables © Billy Collins, Random House New York, 2022.
If you want to know more about the delightful Billy Collins, you will find find information here, and here at his website.
Please make sure you stop and see what Kym, Bonny, and Sarah have for your pockets today!
Thank you so much for reading along with us this month!
by Kat | Apr 20, 2023 | General, Poetry
This week is all about love… a difficult subject for me. I am not a flowery, all sorts of love words kind of person.
But I began the great Love Poem search both online and scouring my poetry books for something… loving.
And after all that searching I still came back to two love poems that have a bit of a different focus. The first, Love After Love by Derek Walcott (a poem that Kym shared years ago) and a new-ish poem by Maggie Smith that I discovered after I purchased her book of poems, Goldenrod. It is this poem that I am sharing today… I have printed this poem out and it has joined Love After Love on board by my desk… daily reminders for me. I hope that Maggie’s poem speaks to you as well…
Bride
by Maggie Smith
How long have I been wed
to myself? Calling myself
darling, dressing for my own
pleasure, each morning
choosing perfume to turn
me on. How long have I been
alone in this house but not
alone? Married less
to the man that to the woman
silvering with the mirror.
I know the kind of wife
I need and I become her:
the one who will leave
this earth at the same instant
I do. I am my own bride,
lifting the veil to see
my face. Darling, I say,
I have waited for you all my life.
Bride from Goldenrod: Poems © Maggie Smith, 2021. One Signal Publishers / Atria Books, Simon and Schuster, Inc.
You can hear Maggie read the poem here and you can learn more about Maggie here.
Make sure you check out what Kym, Bonny, and Sarah have shared today!
by Kat | Apr 13, 2023 | General, Poetry
Welcome to the second week of National Poetry Month!
This week, we are all sharing a poem by our Poet Laureate, Ada Limón. I have a plethora of Ada Favorites in my poetry collection, but I think the thing I like best about Ada’s poetry is the way she lifts women… it always inspires me.
And my selection this week is:
How to Triumph Like a Girl
by Ada Limón
I like the lady horses best,
how they make it all look easy,
like running 40 miles per hour
is as fun as taking a nap, or grass.
I like their lady horse swagger,
after winning. Ears up, girls, ears up!
But mainly, let’s be honest, I like
that they’re ladies. As if this big
dangerous animal is also a part of me,
that somewhere inside the delicate
skin of my body, there pumps
an 8-pound female horse heart,
giant with power, heavy with blood.
Don’t you want to believe it?
Don’t you want to lift my shirt and see
the huge beating genius machine
that thinks, no, it knows,
it’s going to come in first.
Ada Limon, “How to Triumph Like a Girl” from Bright Dead Things. Copyright © 2015 by Ada Limon.
To learn more about Ada, you will find some great info here as well as her site here.
Please stop by and see what poems Kym, Bonny, and Sarah are sharing today!
by Kat | Apr 6, 2023 | General, Poetry
Welcome to my favorite month of the entire year… National Poetry Month!
As usual… Kym, Bonny, Sarah, and myself will be sharing some poetry with you this month on Thursday’s.
Before I share my poem for today, I thought I’d give you some ideas of how you can add more poetry to your April days! You will find a treasure trove of resources here… including getting a Poem-A-Day emailed to you. This month they will all be curated by Ada Limón, Poet Laureate. Want more… you will find 30 ideas here to bring more poetry to your April!
Today, each of us will be sharing a poem around the idea of wonder… I read a good deal of poetry and considered a number of different poems, but ultimately I picked a poem by Ellen Bass. She is a favorite poet of mine… she is easy to read and her poems really hit home for me. This poem starts with Rilke (who I just can’t get enough of!) and from there, she shares the wonder of us… she makes it personal…intimate for the reader… me and you …in the most incredible way.
The World Has Need of You
by Ellen Bass
…everything here seems to need us…
—Rilke
I can hardly imagine it
as I walk to the lighthouse, feeling the ancient
prayer of my arms swinging
in counterpoint to my feet.
Here I am, suspended
between the sidewalk and twilight,
the sky dimming so fast it seems alive.
What if you felt the invisible
tug between you and everything?
A boy on a bicycle rides by,
his white shirt open, flaring
behind him like wings.
It’s a hard time to be human. We know too much
and too little. Does the breeze need us?
The cliffs? The gulls?
If you’ve managed to do one good thing,
the ocean doesn’t care.
But when Newton’s apple fell toward the earth,
the earth, ever so slightly, fell
toward the apple as well.
The World Has Need of You © Ellen Bass
If you want to learn more about Ellen Bass and her poetry… look here, and here.
And be sure to stop by to see what Kym, Bonny, and Sarah have shared today!
