poems for when I'm away July 15, 22, 29, Aug. 5, 12

Pictures sent:

For 7/22: sculpture called "Rubato" in front of Malmö Live (music hall complex) -- one is allowed to climb in it... 

For 7/29

Too many pictures of marvels to know which to be able to share... so a glimpse of a rainbow will have to do.  Here in the Faroes, natives think nothing of the constant shift from blustery wind, pelting rain to a a blue sky and sun shining on a waterfall dance.  We saw many "rainbow opportunities" but yesterday was the first real one

for Aug. 12 -- a picture of the Quiraing

We are about to leave the magic of the Scottish Highlands, and now starts the friends and family part of the trip. I will look forward to seeing you on Aug. 19 and 21 (Polly says: just noticed the bird in the distance! The great and the small. That got me!)

For Aug. 19

picture of modern market and St. Nicolas Church in Ghent!

 July 15 A Dream of the Future by Joyce Sutphen; Please Don’t  by Tony Hoagland; Wake Up by Adam Zagajewski; In Bed With A Book by Mona Van Duyn; Poem to Watch over You by Omotara Jamesm;

The House With Nobody In It by Alfred Joyce Kilmer;

July 22 (poems on beauty)

Poems are not going to dramatically change your life.  Do not approach them as if they do.

Poems ask you to pay attention — that's all.  A poem cannot be paraphrased.  In fact, a

poem's greatest potential lies in the opposite of paraphrase: ambiguity.

Life is Beautiful, by Dorianne Laux; No Images by Waring Cuney; Scarf  by Rita Dove; Quilt by Nikki Giovanni; The Word  by Tony Hoagland;  Retired by Faith Shearin

Judith's take: That first one was a lulu after one got through the sly presentation of it as just a mass of sentences squished together.  And like so much poetry it made a much greater impression when read aloud.  The other poem which was SO impressive was the No Images—especially when we heard it sung by Nina Simone—o my o my o my.  The only thing I can compare it to was Kathleen Ferrier singing Ben Jonson’s “Have You Seen But the White Lily Blow.”  And what warmed the cockles (and muscles) of my heart was Simone’s gorgeous pronunciation!  No mumble and she pronounced her “t” which nobody in America does anymore—just as I cringe when I hear “bewdy” for “beauty”…

 

So the Rita Dove poem presented after just could not hold its place—because ANYTHING would have been a let down after that prior experience.  We liked it very much but it had to suffer in that lineup.  Quilts was much appreciated also.  Neil spoke of having all his late wife’s slogan T shirts laid out like a quilt, which went over well as he was wearing a Gorey sweatshirt about books…Kathy thought that the kings and queens in the penultimate stanza sort of did not fit the poem’s style—I agreed with her.  Lots of people liked the lines about the coffee grinder and the spare tire.

 

It was a rousing session! 

July 29

This selection in the Year of the Horse, (2026)   is from Poem-a-Day selections 10 years ago.

Galway Races by W. B. Yeats 1865 –1939; Tender Buttons [Nothing Elegant] by Gertrude Stein; Letters by Ralph Waldo Emerson; Electrons by Ruth Madievsky; Any Common Desolation  by Ellen Bass;

Accepting Heaven at Great Basin by Nathalie Handal; Eros by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Jack-in-the-Pulpit by Kimiko Hahn (side by side w/ poem that inspired it) Queen-Anne's-Lace  by William Carlos Williams

Horses  by Witter Bynner

August. 5 poems related to food; You might enjoy more here: "Feast on this smorgasbord of poems about eating and cooking, exploring our relationships with food.

We Eat Out Together by Bernadette Mayer; Eating Alone  by Li-Young Lee 1957; Churning Day  by Seamus Heaney; The Rambutan Notebooks by Aimee Nezhukumatathil; Butter by Elizabeth Alexander

 Meditation on a Grapefruit by Craig Arnold 

Aug. 12: To Prisoners Gwendolyn Brooks; Poems from "Poetry and the Creative Mind" :  celebrating National Poetry Month, April 2026 https://poets.org/2026-poetry-creative-mind

 One thing is easy / to keep, your old language I use for poems / and pillow talk.”-- from New Tradition/新传统 by Evan Wang   https://poets.org/poem/new-traditionxinchuantong;   

Devotion by Tracy K. Smith;   The Fisherman  by W.B. Yeats;   The Dancing by Gerald Stern;  Telephone Booth (number 905 1/2) by Pedro Pietri  The Geometry of the Uninvited by Gregory O'Neill

Aug. 19

 Food by Brenda Hillman; (one very long, but segmented poem); 3 short poems. Elegy by W.S. Merwin;

one stanza ghazal - by Agha Shahid Ali; Poem by Langston Hughes;  (I loved my friend.); A Bowl of Fruit by Stephen Dunn; The Traveling Onion  by Naomi Shihab Nye

Judith reports: Meanwhile, back at the ranch—dressing, I guess with this collection.  Barbara happened to have brought lunch in the form of yogurt with maple syrup on it, but the rest of us were helpless under your relentless attack.  We really really got into these poems.  Graeme had Eddy read the one which he had sent to you—and for once in a way (to be blunt) his reading was good.  Maybe because he intimately relates to this poet more than some others.  By the time we got to butter we were in a fairly rollicking mood—Graeme asked me to read it, which I did with proper—unction.  But then I exploded that we would all have to go home and have our cholesterol meds, and pointed out that we could Not enjoy the grapefruit poem because of those meds!  Bernie asked how many were on statins and at least 2/3 of those present raised their hands!  So they are deprived of grapefruit too.  (And why are oranges and lemons not a part of this ban???) I then told them of the discussion group I had belonged to before Covid broke it up and how I had teased an earnest young fellow by describing how I ate one pink grapefruit a year at New Year’s, as a special treat because I LOVE grapefruit and am forbidden it.  the poor kid used to get SO flustered—it was a riot and I was so mean—it was a hoot to see a very young fellow react to an elderly witch be erotic over a damn pomelo…So Graeme said go ahead and read this poem too—so I did—reeling and writhing in my most Method Manner.  It was very enjoyable.  So we went home happy if rather peckish and I tried to stanch my estomac with an open face toasted cheese sandridge.  Indifferent success.  

 

What a hoot!