This week I have not slept a lot! But! The reason is not insomnia… no instead I have watched every minute of the DNC each night. There were so many amazing speakers and last night Madam Vice President was the capstone of the event. (If you missed it, you can watch it here!)
However, one beautiful poetess really captured my attention. (Okay, Tim Walz and his family did too… don’t we all just adore Gus Walz?)
In case you missed the glorious Amanda Gorman… I am sharing her new poem, This Sacred Scene. You can find the text of it here… I have been reading it over and over. But hearing and watching her recite it is a real treat.
Have a great weekend everyone! See you all back here on Monday with my word update!
Poetry has been a balm these days… and I have been reading more poetry than I usually do. Yet on Monday when I realized that this week was poetry round up week…well it was a bit of a surprise! And despite the volumes of poetry I have been immersed in I spent a few moments in angst about what I should share!
But on Tuesday I stumbled into a poem by Barbara Crooker in Poetry of Presence II… and the angst faded… this is poem I need to share today! (Thank you, dear Barbara!)
So here is my selection… I hope you find something delightful in it!
Queens
by Barbara Crooker
We are all just walking each other home.
— Ram Dass
I hadn’t taken the subway in fifty years, not since
I was an undergraduate, and I was nervous.
Back then, it was hard to navigate, as graffiti and peace
signs covered up the maps. But a friend from Queens
wanted to meet for lunch, so I took a deep breath
and set out, clutching the email she’d sent with directions.
Of course, now the maps are electronic, not readily
broken, and easy to read. But her station was confusing,
a maze of underground passages, and she’d warned me
I’d have to walk some distance if I went up the wrong
stairs. So I stood there, trying to align her text, match
her words to the nearby stores. An elderly East Asian
woman asked, You lost? She snatched the papers
from my hand. Okay. Follow me. Wielding her cane
like a weapon, she pushed pedestrians out of the way,
held it up like a banner as we crossed against the light
She pointed out the “good” fruit stands, wagged her fingers
at the “bad” ones, ignored the storefronts with elaborate
gold jewelry. She was my Italian grandmother, in a different skin.
When we reached my destination, she gave me back my papers.
Turn here. Friend lives there. And when I turned to thank her,
she was gone. Above, in the stunted city trees: the wind through
It’s the third Thursday of the month and that means it’s time to join Bonny in gathering up some poetry to share with you all!
Thanks to the RWU selection this month, I discovered a new-to-me poet, Safiya Sinclair. I know several of you struggled with the poem she shared in How to Say Babylon but maybe this poem of hers will speak to you. At least I hope it will speak to you as it did to me!
The Ragged and the Beautiful
by Safiya Sinclair
Doubt is a storming bull, crashing through
the blue-wide windows of myself. Here in the heart
of my heart where it never stops raining,
I am an outsider looking in. But in the garden
of my good days, no body is wrong. Here every
flower grows ragged and sideways and always
beautiful. We bloom with the outcasts,
our soon-to-be sunlit, we dreamers. We are strange
and unbelonging. Yes. We are just enough
of ourselves to catch the wind in our feathers,
and fly so perfectly away.
I had thought of using a different poem today but after spending yesterday morning in my garden, doing a bit of weeding… with my new hearing aids in and on… the sounds of the bees was crazy. Crazy!! And all I could think of was this poem by Lucy Adkins that I read in April.
And so… I am sharing it with you all today with the hopes that the next time you are outside and hear the bees you will think of this poem… with delight!
Instructions to the Worker Bee
by Lucy Adkins
Remember your first duty—
seeking out beauty in the world
and going within.
There is rapture in a field of clover—
purple and blue petals,
throat of honeysuckle achingly open;
and you must be drunk with love
for salvia, monarda, Marvel of Peru,
all the glories of this world.
It’s not just about pollen or nectar,
the honey that eventually coms,
but the tingle of leg hair
against the petal, against pistil and stamen,
the vault of each flower opening.
Learn dandelion,
learn lantana, red-lipped astilbe,
each with its own deliciousness.
Take what you need
and remember where it is in the field.
Then go back and go back
and go back again.
It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. ― Charles Dickens
Dickens surely got the days of March right in my neighborhood this year! We have had a month of all.the.weathers. in abundance! So as I close the door on March 2024… I thought a TGIF post was very in order.
Thinking (about) —
Poetry… in fact, right now it is all poetry, all the time in my house! I picked up a stack of poetry books from the library and have immersed myself in it! Why? Well… April is the best month ever!! It is National Poetry Month! And Kym, Bonny, Sarah, and I have a fun month of Thursday’s filled with poetry planned for you, dear reader! Beginning April 4 and ending on April 25… four fabulous Thursday’s with some poetry for you! I hope you all are as eager for National Poetry Month as we are! (and if not, I hope that our month of poetry will show you just how fun poetry can be!)
Gliding (along) —
I have just 6 “pages” to go in my 100 day project… which translates to 29 days of planning, thinking, plotting, and yes…29 days of stitching left! This might be the best 100 day project I have ever done (and I have done a few!) I really feel like I have hit the “sweet spot” of this project… ideas are bubbling like a fountain in my brain and I have to curb them a bit in order to keep within the 15 minutes per day guidelines! This is a very good problem to have! Ideas for how to continue this inspired stitching past 100 days have been marinating as well and I am excited to start some new things once my book is completed!
(seeking) Inspiration Instruction —
Way back in February, I had put on my “list” the need for a bit of a haircut for myself… but as I still have not made that appointment my hair is, of course, a bit longer. And I got this wild idea that my hair might be long enough for me to try something other than a “messy bun” (which, honestly, requires zero hair “doing” talent, lol) Yes, I am that person with zero hair “doing” ability. My poor girls were lucky to get a couple of pigtails or a ponytail… and the art of French braiding was well beyond my woeful abilities. However, I have been noodling around Pinterest and I am going to try and teach myself some “alternative” hair options! If you have any helpful hair tips, tricks, or ideas… I am open to any and all ideas (short of shaving my head that is! lol)
Feeling (celebratory) —
18 years ago tomorrow, As Kat Knits was born! And I had absolutely no idea then where a blog would take me! At first, the writing was really lacking and I did not even know enough to give my first post a title and I think it took me some time to figure out how the importance of a photo! But over the years I have found my voice and a community that I love, respect, and feel blessed by… you all are what keeps me here sharing the thoughts that spill out onto this site. I have been thinking about the “posts of the past” like Carole’s Ten on Tuesday’s, the many NaBloPoMo’s I did, Carole’s Three on Thursday’s, and the collaboration that Carole and I had with Think, Write, Thursday’s! If you see a very Carole-centric theme here about my blogging, you’d be very right. Carole is one of the most generous bloggers who welcomed me to this community and I think she has helped me be a better blogger over the years! The “posts of the present” provide a steadiness to my week with Unraveled Wednesday’s each week – it gives me some accountability, loads of inspiration, and a steady stream of TBR books! I also love the poetry collaboration I participate in with Bonny and Kym! (Again, blogging that brings voices together in community is the best!) But I am always thinking about ways to spark myself here weekly… yes, I do think about “posts of the future” and where this blog might go and where it might not go! There have been numerous times that I have contemplated the end of As Kat Knits but somehow, I still find that I have things to say and I have some ideas for the future that I keep tumbling around. So Happy Blogiversary to As Kat Knits… and a huge thanks to all of you who are part of this community!
Happy Friday, everyone! See you all back here on Monday!
