Dear reader,
I write to you from Alipore, Calcutta, where it’s still magical sweater weather. I’ve been spending time with my two nieces, who infuse joy into my life. My inner child has been dancing freely, and I find myself embracing the simpler pleasures of life, like making up silly songs to amuse them, painting rainbows, funky hairstyles, make-believe stories…
Ah, the simple life! So much more appealing than overthinking and dwelling on existential dread.
Last month, I read Dani Medrano’s Official 2022 Suggested Resolution List, where the second point was: Find joy in all the mundane dumb everyday life stuff. I’m trying to do just this during this visit home, and hope to keep finding moments of joy in the ‘dumb everyday life stuff’ going forward.
I’ve also been non-stop humming/singing this adorable Bengali tune about bulbuls and the song of the blue river, which the babies and I love dancing to. I hope it makes you smile too.
Poetry Corner
Five poems that sparked joy when I first read them.
1. What Brings Me Joy by Clementine von Radics
You,
of course.
Always you.
2. Another Poem on My Daughter’s Birthday by Craig Morgan Teicher
There must be soft words
for an evening like this, when the breeze
caresses like gentle fingertips
all over. I don’t know
how not to write darkly and sad.
But it’s two years today since
my little girl was born, cut safely
from the noose.
We meant nothing but hope;
how near death is to that.
Only children, only some children,
get to run free from these snags. She
was born! She lived and she grows
like joy spreading from the syllables
of songs. She reminds me of now
and now and now.
I must learn
to have been so lucky.
3. Joy by Clarissa Scott Delaney
Joy shakes me like the wind that lifts a sail,
Like the roistering wind
That laughs through stalwart pines.
It floods me like the sun
On rain-drenched trees
That flash with silver and green.
I abandon myself to joy—
I laugh—I sing.
Too long have I walked a desolate way,
Too long stumbled down a maze
Bewildered.
4. Endymion, Book I by John Keats (Excerpt)
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Read the full poem here.
5. Pickling by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
For hours we stand in the kitchen
and slice cucumbers, peel garlic,
prepare the brine. There is joy
in preserving what is wonderful,
in letting the self believe in a future
when we will pull the jar from the shelf
and remember what it was like
this summer day—as if we could also
fit into the jar the laughter, the pink
of the zinnias up to our waist,
the chickadee song and the warm,
warm nights. To be present
does not mean to ignore the future—
but oh, as we prepare, such joy
in singing along to an old favorite song
on the radio, scent of dill in the air,
summer still unfolding in the yard,
in the jars, in our joy.
Recommended Listening
Nancy From Now On - Father John Misty (I don’t know how I stumbled upon Father John Misty but I’m utterly smitten)
Links of the Week
I’m in awe of @gardenercook aka Lorene Edwards Forkner’s gorgeous watercolor art, where she observes color in nature and captures mother nature’s myriad hues. (Discovered her thanks to fellow beauty forager Priyanka)
Watch: Pass the Ball, a delightful and eccentric example of the creative possibilities of collaboration
Why Amazon closing down Westland feels like we’re living in a Mohsin Hamid novel
This mural reveals itself in reflection.(via Rob Walker’s Art of Noticing)
We said our goodbyes last night, and I knew my heart was breaking
Boyish is launching a series of children’s books. Pre-order here.
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Are You Pondering What I’m Pondering?
“I want to live the rest of my life, however long or short, with as much sweetness as I can decently manage, loving all the people I love, and doing as much as I can of the work I still have to do. I am going to write fire until it comes out of my ears, my eyes, my noseholes -- everywhere. Until it’s every breath I breathe. I’m going to go out like a fucking meteor!”
-Audre Lorde
Wishing you one heck of a week ahead,
Rohini
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Cannot thank you enough for adding the Bulbul pakhi poem here! Feels like I got a slice of my childhood back in my hand <3
And yes, going through this archive from time to time dusts off all the sadness in an instant. Your words heal, dear ma’am <3
Thanks for the reminder! 🪴 Consciously cultivating joy in the mundane until I start feeling joyous about it naturally 💜