BlogHer - Plainsight Poetry - Comments

Rachelle, thanks for the

Froniga — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:54:49 -0500

Rachelle, thanks for the link to Anchors and Masts.

What a great post - the Langston Hughes is stunning and is going to stay with me for a long time.

It's on the mirror, not the fridge

Virginia DeBolt — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:42:22 -0500

but here's my daily read by Marianne Williamson.

Deliver us to our passion.
Deliver us to our brilliance.
Deliver us to our intelligence.
Deliver us to our depth.
Deliver us to our nobility.
Deliver us to our beauty.
Deliver us to our power to heal.
Deliver us to You.

http://www.webteacher.ws/ http://first50.wordpress.com/

Plainsight

SandyCarlson — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 05:31:49 -0500

Thanks for putting this together, Rachelle. There are some wonderful pieces here. I was not familiar with the Carver poem until now. It's wonderful. From him, it is especially tender.

Mary Oliver's newest book, Red Bird, exceeds Thirst for depth and insight and range. Who thought it was possible? She has integrated that faith seemlessly into her nature poetry.

Plainsight poetry -- apt phrase

ElaineE — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:45:22 -0500

Rachelle, you've coined a perfect phrase. So true. Poety needs to be part of our every day routine. I'm a little haphazard in how I approach poetry but you are giving me a reason to be a bit more regular and at least collect in one place poems that speak to my heart.

I too find comfort in Raymond Carver's poem. (Thanks, Debra.) I've shared "Late Fragment" with family and friends after the passing of their loved ones.

I have more favourite poems by Mary Oliver than any other poet. Here is another one from Thirst:

Messenger
Mary Oliver

My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird —
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.

The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,

a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.

"Late Fragment" byRaymond Carter

debra roby — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:49:33 -0500

I found a poem by Raymond Carter on Gerrie Congdon's blog last year. It was part of gift she received from her daughter. I've held it in heart since then:

"Late Fragment"

And did you get what you wanted from this life even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth.

A great discussion of the poet and this poem can be found at In the Spirit of Being.

Thank you for writing this post. I'd completely forgotten the Hughes poem, another love...
Debra
A Stitch In Time
Deb's Daily Distractions

Plainsight Poetry

Rachelle Mee-Chapman — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:02:48 -0500

There are lines of poetry so powerful, so soul shaping that one must carry them in one's memory -- or at the very least post them on the corkboard in the kitchen; or tuck them into the little clips holding up the bathroom mirror so everyday the poet can console or confront you while you clean your morning-and-night teeth.

These poems are what I have come to think of of as "plainsight poetry," that is, verses which must be kept at easy access. The one I most need now is this:

Harlem [2]

What happens to a
dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like
rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

by Langston Hughes

I have to have this close at hand or my own doubts and the naysaying voices of others will drown out the dreams I hold within. Often I need this poem as well, to keep the fear at bay:

Forget safety.
Live where you fear
to live.
Destroy your reputation.
Be notorious.

from Bewilderment
by Rumi

This week a handful of generous bloggers have offered us a peek into their notebooks and fridge-fronts to see what poetry is sustaining their souls. Within this collection you may find a new piece to prop you up, help you go deep, or give you some nourishment for the journey.

Tess Marshall at Anchors and Masts has given us this inspiring piece about the oft-submerged power of womanhood:

In her bottled up is a woman peppery as curry,
a yam of a woman of butter and brass,
compounded of acid and sweet like a pineapple,
like a handgrenade set to explode,
like goldenrod ready to bloom.

from The Woman in the Ordinary
by Marge Piercy

If that isn't enough of a soul-massage, you can also sink into the marvelous photography of Lili Viera de Carvalho that accompanies Tess's post. Or, follow the flow of inspiration from Marge to Tess to Lucy as she follows up with this visual post at Lucy Creates. (Don't you just love that blogging synergy?)

Sandy Carlson at Writing in Faith has kindly reviewed poet Mary Oliver's Thirst. Thirst was published in 2007, and is a collection of poetry written after the death of her life-partner. Oliver who has long inspired us to gratitude and hope with poems like this one, (reflected upon here by Jen Lemen), will surely be a wise guide into the great and terrible questions surrounding love, God, and grief.

Someone I loved once gave me a
box full of darkness.
It took me years to understand
that this, too, was a gift.

from The Uses of Sorrow
by Mary Oliver

Finally in two slightly different takes on poetry-that-inspires, Bette at Surimono Garden has given us a combination of words-plus-video here, while Elizabeth Glass at The Couch gives us poetry set to music with lyrics from Over the Rhine. (You really should stop by their place and have a listen. They are a terrific duo.)

Do you have a favorite poem that feeds your spirit or soothes your soul? Let us know in the comments below. Namaste.