(Optimism, acceptance, tolerance, permeability, commitment, saying “yes to life” when the path is uncertain. )
I love serendipity.
For instance, that I am choosing poems to discuss that have to do with the feeling of YES, and stumbling on a series of ee cummings poems – where if you type eYes, the “vision” of “yes” appears… Oh indeed -- “love is a place” (yes is a world):
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/love-is-a-place/
or for instance, that I send an ee cummings poem, i thank you God to my friend, and she tells me – oh that is the one I copied by hand on all my wedding invitations 35 years ago!
YES! carried in the coincidence that Writer’s Almanac posted 2 ee cummings’ poems in celebration of his birthday 10/14:
i carry your heart with me // and since feeling is first
since feeling is first
or for instance that the new poet laureate, W.S. Merwin will be giving a reading, and a Seattle contact sends a link to his translation of Lorca’s poem, “Cancion del naranjo seco” – Song of the Barren Orange Tree, which talks about the need to live without having the mirror of oneself interfere – which coincides perfectly with our discussion of poems which beckon to “Atman”, beckon to the larger spiritual connection we seek.
today (10/21):
Ode to The God of Atheists by Ellen Bass -- (not a question of earning a reward, being punished, outward manifestation of faith, etc. Oh give me a god a holy dirt.)
The Thing Is – by Ellen Bass – posted on WA, 10/16 and sent by the minister after I’d already chosen it! And it IS a ‘YES” – a look at the “obesity of grief” and the thing is, you take life, and you love it – even if you have no stomach for it.
Fifth Avenue in Early Spring – by Philip Schultz -- the sense of Spring, young lovers, the raw edge of coming into a new season, the joy simply to “bear witness”. How is it that “satisfactions are disturbing” is such a meaningful paradox – knowing our hunger can only be temporarily satiated.
Dreams – by Szymborska,(translated by Clare Cavanagh and Stanislaw Baranczak) where in spite of accidents, the unplanned and certainly not because of orderly fact, “at times even a clear-cut meaning may slip through”
YES! carried in the coincidence that Writer’s Almanac posted 2 ee cummings’ poems in celebration of his birthday 10/14:
i carry your heart with me // and since feeling is first
since feeling is first
Other poems discussed 10/14:
Dawn – by Robert Bly (Ghazal; like a beautiful rosary of precious beads, linked by the final word)
Derry Derry Down -- by Seamus Heaney for the joyful sound of it, the bright innocence
Ted Kooser’s Selection : Nocturne by Michelle Y. Burke, who lives in N.Y., in which a man who does everything right doesn’t quite do everything right.
Call to Prayer, Abby Murray (the need for prayer for a man, his daughters, and even a Sheik who will abuse them)
My country, I will build you again by Simin Behbahani. She is the
most prolific female poet in Iran, a country in which poetry is the national
scripture.
Shoulders, Naomi Shihab Nye. What we carry, how we carry it; “We’re not going to be able/ to live in this world/if we’re not willing to do what he’s doing/with one another.
October 7 :
Amy Lowell : Patterns
and two more ee cummings:
most(people
simply
can’t)
won’t (most
parent pople mustn’t
shouldn’t)most daren’t
(sortofpeople well
youknow kindof)
aint
&
even
(not having
most ever lived
people always)don’t
die(becoming most buried unbecomingly
very
by
most)people.
**
Here’s another “YES”
yes,is a pleasant country
if’s wintry
(my lovely)
let’s open the year
both is the very weather
(not either)
my treasure,
when violets appear
love is a deeper season
than reason;
my sweet one
(and april’s where we’re)
September 30: Theme of Growth :
Identification : Szymborska
Roots: Lucille Clifton
Poems from Rochester Art Drop: (see : http://artdrop.democratandchronicle.com )
Wandering Eye: Jan Cedras
English Flavors: Laure-Anne Bosselaar
The Giving in : Marvin Bell
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