Greetings friends and I am so happy it is the first Poetry Gathering of 2026!
(although, I am here to tell you that grief brain and aware of time brain are two very different brains…sigh)
So this morning as I scrambled to get my ducks in order and find a poem to share… an eerily fortunate tag drew my attention and upon flipping open to the tagged page… I found the absolutely perfect poem for today. (or at least it was for me… )
It is a poem by Charles Bukowski and is tucked away inside Phyllis Cole-Dai & Ruby R. Wilson’s first Poetry of Presence anthology.
a song with no end
by Charles Bukowski
when Whitman wrote, “I sing the body electric”
I know what he
meant
I know what he
wanted:
to be completely alive at every moment
in spite of the inevitable.
we can’t cheat death but we can make it
work so hard
that when it does take
us
it will have known a victory just as
perfect as
ours.
“a song with no end” from The Night Torn Mad with Footsteps by Charles Bukowski. Copyright © 2001
It seems fitting with how much Renée Good has been on my mind this week. I read in several places that she was a poet as well and thanks to Pádraig Ó Tuama, I have a poem of her’s to share with you all… I first read it on Sunday and have been contemplating it all week and have reread it multiple times since then… here it is for your consideration.
A huge thanks to Bonny for providing a place for us all to gather today.
What a perfect poem today, Kat. There are some poets I turn to particularly when things feel a little dark . . . and Charles Bukowski is one of them. The poem you’ve shared today is a favorite — and so appropriate right now. XO
This Bukowski poem is wonderful, for today and really any time. I thank him for explaining a bit of Walt Whitman to me, and thank you for sharing.
I’m going to have to read Renée Good’s poem quite a few times to get a better handle on it, but after just a couple of readings, I love the line “maybe there in-between my pancreas & large intestine is the piddly brook of my soul”. I will reread both of these poems and think of Renée Good.
Your poem, as always, is well chosen. I’ve heard Good’s poem read aloud on social media but it is nice to see it in print. Like Bonny, I’m going to have to think about and reread it.
This is wonderful and so perfect. Thank you for sharing it and for sharing the link to Renee Good’s poem — what a talent we have lost!
Thank you – that has really kick-started my thinking today
I’m off to read Renee’s poem, I did not know that. I think there is a poem for every single circumstance in life.