poetry - Encouragement

poetry

Chase Twichell, "Animal Caution"

Mom is in the hospital.

poetry

Wislawa Szymborska, "In the Park"

Wislawa Szymborska captures a small but subversive comedy with "In the Park."

poetry

Donika Kelly, "Sanctuary"

A powerful poetry reading can't be written about, probably. However, we can say "these words struck me. I should speak, too."

poetry

Emily Dickinson, "Fame is the one that does not stay" (Franklin 1507)

There is no way to talk about being American without confronting Emily Dickinson.

poetry

Emily Dickinson, "The Savior must have been a docile Gentleman" (1487)

Sometimes I think about doing. Perhaps there is a meaning to doing itself, a meaning that holds true for all actions.

poetry

William Butler Yeats, "The Choice"

Yeats proclaims that "[t]he intellect... is forced to choose / Perfection of the life, or of the work."

poetry

Robert Creeley, "Oh"

Listen and look. Creeley's sentence does not just surprise with sadness: "Oh like a bird / falls down / out of air."

poetry

Kay Ryan, "All You Did"

"All you did," says Kay Ryan, "was / walk into a room." Just from that, you unknowingly scaled a sheer vertical face.

poetry

Linda Gregg, "Highway 90"

At night in the desert, driving a fast car, there's freedom. A reveling in nature. Power.

poetry

Emily Dickinson, "Hope" is the thing with feathers (254)

I do think there's a strong relation between hope and anxiety...

poetry

Kyla Houbolt, "to go or stay"

Kyla Houbolt wrote "to go or stay" for a recent Small Poem Sunday, and I've found myself pondering her little lyric quite a bit.

poetry

Kobayashi Issa, "Writing shit about new snow" (translation Robert Hass)

"Writing shit about new snow / for the rich / is not art" is a blunt instrument, clear about its stand and too short to be a rant.

poetry

Marie Ponsot, "Bliss and Grief"

"No one / is here / right now." That's it. That's "Bliss and Grief," a short poem by Marie Ponsot.

poetry

Kay Ryan, "Bait Goat"

...I can't help but feel the pull of the words "Bait Goat."

poetry

Kay Ryan, "Salvage"

I am not in the mood for Kay Ryan's "Salvage."

poetry

Emily Dickinson, "A nearness to Tremendousness" (963)

What shattering, colossal lines: "A nearness to Tremendousness – / An Agony procures."

poetry

Joy Harjo, "Granddaughters"

Harjo means in her lyric to build a grandmother/granddaughter whose experiences are inextricable from myth.

poetry

Kathyrn Cowles, "Keeping Track"

There are times you're paying so much attention to detail you miss the obvious.

poetry

Kate Colby, "How far I've come"

These lines riddle with a Janus-like structure.

poetry

Emily Dickinson, "There's a certain Slant of light" (258)

I want to begin 2024 by talking about Dickinson's "There's a certain Slant of light."

poetry

Kevin Young, "Colostrum"

I'll start with Young's electric first sentence, "We are not born / with tears."

poetry

Li-Young Lee, "One Heart"

Li-Young Lee's "One Heart" commands us to "[l]ook at the birds."

poetry

Jane Kenyon, "Otherwise"

In "Otherwise," Jane Kenyon deals with the unimaginable with every step.

poetry

Adam Zagajewski, "Moths"

The poem excels at creating unease in a situation which typically denies it even exists.

poetry

Gabrielle Calvocoressi, "At Last the New Arriving"

So much joy in Gabrielle Calvocoressi's "At Last the New Arriving." So much joy you might miss the struggle.