#238: love poems and hope on a tuesday evening 🐈
"It's July and I have hope in who I am becoming." - Charlotte Eriksson
Hello,
It’s (light) sweater weather in Bangalore. Brrr. :)
Small things make me happy these days, maybe because I’m trying to find the light in the tiniest of cracks. I hope you’re all doing okay, whichever part of the world you’re reading this in.
Poetry Corner
A few unusual love poems on different kinds of love.
1. Night Vision by Kate Colby
Shadows are ideas
of what casts them;
the moon is there
to match, but only
on one side. Stars
pick through leaves,
a tree-shaped black
space swallows itself.
If I could disgorge
my heart like a star-
fish its stomach
I'd draw you in,
but I only have this head
and how I love you
looks more like me than I do.
2. Storage by Mary Oliver
When I moved from one house to another
there were many things I had no room
for. What does one do? I rented a storage
space. And filled it. Years passed.
Occasionally I went there and looked in,
but nothing happened, not a single
twinge of the heart.
As I grew older the things I cared
about grew fewer, but were more
important. So one day I undid the lock
and called the trash man. He took
everything.
I felt like the little donkey when
his burden is finally lifted. Things!
Burn them, burn them! Make a beautiful
fire! More room in your heart for love,
for the trees! For the birds who own
nothing — the reason they can fly.
3. The Two Times I Loved You the Most In a Car by Dorothea Grossman
It was your idea
to park and watch the elephants
swaying among the trees
like royalty
at that make-believe safari
near Laguna.
I didn’t know anything that big
could be so quiet.
And once, you stopped
on a dark desert road
to show me the stars
climbing over each other
riotously
like insects
like an orchestra
thrashing its way
through time itself
I never saw light that way
again.
4. Moon Hymn by Alice Oswald
I will give you one glimpse
a glimpse of the moon's grievance
whose appearance is all pocks and points
that look like frost-glints
I will wave my hand to her
in her first quarter
when the whole world is against her
shadowy exposure of her centre
o the moon loves to wander
I will go clockwise and stare
when she is huge when she is half elsewhere
half naked, in struggle with the air
and growing rounder and rounder
a pert peering creature
I love her sidling and awkward
when she's not quite circular
o criminal and ingrown
skinned animal o moon
carrying inside yourself your own
death's head, your dark one
why do you chop yourself away
piece by piece, to that final trace
of an outline of ice
on a cupful of space?
5. Italian Food by Shel Silverstein
Oh, how I love Italian food.
I eat it all the time,
Not just ’cause how good it tastes
But ’cause how good it rhymes.
Minestrone, cannelloni,
Macaroni, rigatoni,
Spaghettini, scallopini,
Escarole, braciole,
Insalata, cremolata, manicotti,
Marinara, carbonara,
Shrimp francese, Bolognese,
Ravioli, mostaccioli,
Mozzarella, tagliatelle,
Fried zucchini, rollatini,
Fettuccine, green linguine,
Tortellini, Tetrazzini,
Oops–I think I split my jeani.
Feeling seen
“Clutter and mess show us that life is being lived...Tidiness makes me think of held breath, of suspended animation... Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism, while messes are the artist's true friend. What people somehow forgot to mention when we were children was that we need to make messes in order to find out who we are and why we are here.”
-Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird“The busier I was, the less eating well, if at all, was a priority.”
-Cheyanne Solis“Waiting pulls us into the present unlike any other experience of time. In waiting, we realise that this moment is meaningful as it exists, not as some step towards a future moment... Each moment is its own experience and its own fulfilment.”
-Jason Farman (via Just Looking)
Music for July
I found my missing Airpods and am slowly making my way back to Spotify, discovering and trying to enjoy music like I once did. A WIP playlist for July.
A few lovely things
Dog sushi & Noodles by Siba Table (Spotted on Present & Correct)
How to See, in Four Minutes, by Wendy MacNaughton (via swissmiss)
My World Your World (A tale of kinship between animals and humans. Reminded me of Gerald Durrell)
Happy July, you lovely breathing human, you.
Off to bed (soonish),
Rohini
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Always a pleasure to read this 🥹
Thank you for sharing My World, Your World!