April 10-11

Taking Turns  byJeanie Greensfelder
Bracken  by Kai Carlson-Wee
Emily Dickinson:   #67 Presentiment is that long shadow on the lawn
"   " 1016: The Hills in Purple syllables
"   "  89 Some things that fly there be, —
"   "  69 Low at my problem bending,

Emily Dickinson # 514 (Her smile was shaped like other smiles)

I Don’t Want to be a Spice Store by Christian Wiman

Dor by Nathalie Handal 

May will mark the Bicentennial of Whitman !
“The grandiose does  not appeal to me.  I dislike the simply art effect— art for art’s sake, like literature for literature’s sake, I object to, not, of course, on prude grounds, but because literature created on such a principle (and art as well) removes us from humanity, while only from humanity in mass can the light come. ”

The poems this week indeed call on our humanity—however, Whitman would be pleased that the craft involved is secondary to the delivery of snapshots of how it is to be human.

In the first poem, “Taking Turns”  Ted Kooser explains, “I like this poem for the way it portrays the manner in which we study the behavior of others and project our own experiences onto their lives.  It seems to be a simple poem.  Two stanzas. The first  assumes someone else’s position.  The poem itself, fulfills the title, takes a turn to retell the story. The fact that the woman “holding the sorrow” is sitting near a cairn, or trail marker has a small unspoken subtext of someone pausing on a journey. Comments from the group:

David: transactional exchange: (your anxiety is filling the room…has a toxic effect vs. asking someone if they’d like to talk about how they feel…)  Being aware, allows us more choices in how to behave.  Martin (as Jungian psychologist) believes that empathy is inborn and natural to want to see how another sees… Bernie remarked on the use of the definite article where Joy and Sorrow are just part of the permanence of living as universal elements, not individual. 

The admission (and turn) I’m wrong, allows the reader also to consider how the writer arrived at the idea that someone was actively searching for an antidote to sadness. Allows the space to arrive at a more true idea, that we all have turns dealing with sadness. Mystery of people. Ambiguity:  she doesn’t know, nor do we— which leaves us with the feel of having witnessed an authentically real moment.