poetry - Encouragement

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poetry

A collection of 126 posts

Kyla Houbolt, "Mirror"

Kyla Houbolt, "Mirror"

What if a life well-lived was nothing but running as fast as you can, whenever you could?

Amy King, "Ivywall of Sparrows"

Amy King, "Ivywall of Sparrows"

Joy has been difficult this week. Difficult to indulge, difficult to share.

Emily Dickinson, "The things we thought that we should do" (1293)

Emily Dickinson, "The things we thought that we should do" (1293)

This Thanksgiving, I forgot to count my blessings.

Katia Kapovich, "Apartment 75"

Katia Kapovich, "Apartment 75"

I want to talk about light in Katia Kapovich's "Apartment 75" (CW: suicide).

Emily Dickinson, "Because I could not stop for Death"

Emily Dickinson, "Because I could not stop for Death"

I never thought I'd see a world dominated this thoroughly by big babies who have the magic power of making the unacceptable seem rational.

Zena Agha, "Elegy for Return #1"

Zena Agha, "Elegy for Return #1"

Zena Agha's "Elegy for Return #1" stunned me for a number of reasons, some of them selfish.

The "otherwise peaceful quiet:" Kyla Houbolt, "early"

The "otherwise peaceful quiet:" Kyla Houbolt, "early"

Busy-ness and its associated anxieties, I believe, can be an amplified effect.

On Burdens: Kay Ryan, "Atlas"

On Burdens: Kay Ryan, "Atlas"

"Extreme exertion / isolates a person / from help, / discovered Atlas."

Against Ableist Religiosity: On John Milton's Sonnet 19 & Nate Klug's "Milton's God"

Against Ableist Religiosity: On John Milton's Sonnet 19 & Nate Klug's "Milton's God"

I am thinking about service.

Anxiety and Creativity: Bartolo Cattafi, "No Escape"

Anxiety and Creativity: Bartolo Cattafi, "No Escape"

"There's no escaping from this room," Cattafi intones, leading me to ask: this room? What room?

Wisława Szymborska, "Puddles"

Wisława Szymborska, "Puddles"

Szymborska's riddling moral in "Puddles" fascinates both as a matter of craft and as a puzzle about our paranoia

Kyla Houbolt, "The Yellow Submarine"

Kyla Houbolt, "The Yellow Submarine"

Kyla Houbolt's "The Yellow Submarine" presents us with yellow everywhere.

Isabella Mori, "Not So Pretty Haiku"

Isabella Mori, "Not So Pretty Haiku"

Mori achieves an affecting memoir of what COVID wrought.

Emily Dickinson, “A Letter is a joy of Earth” (1639)

Emily Dickinson, “A Letter is a joy of Earth” (1639)

Letters are not easy. I know this, but I write bad ones anyway.

Emily Dickinson, "As willing lid o’er weary eye" (1050)

Emily Dickinson, "As willing lid o’er weary eye" (1050)

...the evening would not be the evening, nor the day the day, if we did not labor and require rest.

Innocence and Experience: On Kay Ryan's "Crown"

Innocence and Experience: On Kay Ryan's "Crown"

The sacred as untouchable, inviolable, inaccessible makes sense to me.

On Nihilism: Kay Ryan's "Nothing Ventured"

On Nihilism: Kay Ryan's "Nothing Ventured"

I confess confusion regarding the word "nihilism."

On Creation: Emily Dickinson, "I dwell in Possibility"

On Creation: Emily Dickinson, "I dwell in Possibility"

...genuine expressions of identity are nothing less than poetry.

"Eternity waits:" On Adam Zagajewski's "Gulls" (from "En Route")

"Eternity waits:" On Adam Zagajewski's "Gulls" (from "En Route")

"Eternity doesn't travel, / eternity waits." Zagajewski proposes a mystic truth. Before we can debate it, we have to believe it in some sense.

Adam Zagajewski, "Segesta" (from "En Route")

Adam Zagajewski, "Segesta" (from "En Route")

You only see when you see differently.

Not beyond pain: Emily Dickinson, "Presentiment — is that long Shadow — on the Lawn" (764)

Not beyond pain: Emily Dickinson, "Presentiment — is that long Shadow — on the Lawn" (764)

There are days of disappointment.

Our Daily Bread: Paul Celan, "I hear the axe has flowered"

Our Daily Bread: Paul Celan, "I hear the axe has flowered"

So many times I've been told pain is necessary for growth.

Comfort and the Soul: Vsevolod Nekrasov, "The Soul"

Comfort and the Soul: Vsevolod Nekrasov, "The Soul"

When I was in graduate school, two words were too much.

On the Meaning of Survival: Kay Ryan's "Turtle"

On the Meaning of Survival: Kay Ryan's "Turtle"

Really good art makes you really mad.

Of Cruelty and Calamity

Of Cruelty and Calamity

We're all broken into eveningwear and skull.