#273: Poems that spark joy
Good evening, dear stranger,
I started today reading Mary Oliver’s Summer Morning, and want to evoke the spirit of returning to oneself before we begin the newsletter.
My favorite lines:
Heart,
I implore you,
it’s time to come back
from the dark
There’s so many things I’ve been doing since the last newsletter that I couldn’t decide what to focus on today. Instead, I’m sharing a few highlights:
Poetry Corner
5 poems that sparked joy 🙆🏻♀️
April by Mary Oliver
I wanted to speak at length about
the happiness of my body and the
delight of my mind for it was
April, a night, a
full moon and –but something in myself or maybe
from somewhere other said: not too
many words, please, in the
muddy shallows the
Frogs are singing.Words from the Front by Ron Padgett
We don’t look as young
as we used to
except in the dim light
especially in
the soft warmth of candlelight
when we say
in all sincerity
You’re so cute
and
You’re my cutie.
Imagine
two old people
behaving like this.
It’s enough
to make you happy.For love of joy by Laree Kiely (Excerpt)
For the love of joy, I make conscious choices
I know darkness exists
God knows I know
Don’t ignore it or deny it
When that darkness hijacks me
The contrast is so shocking and startling that it takes me by surprise
It’s so strong, I have trouble digging my way out of the abyss
But I am wired for joy
For reasons I don’t understand
(Read the full poem here.)The Uses of Poetry by Harvey Shapiro
This was a day when I did nothing,
aside from reading the newspaper,
taking both breakfast and lunch by myself
in the kitchen, dozing after lunch
until the middle of the afternoon. Then
I read one poem by Zbigniew Herbert
in which he thanked God for the many beautiful
things in this world, in a voice so absurdly
truthful, the entire wrecked day was redeemed.Manifesto by Margot Schilpp
I know that dying is how we escape
the rest of our lives. I think that trees
send us a message: do not believe
you are lucky. The skins of apples
and the peeler will marry; it’s simply
a question of when. Believe
in mourning and carrion birds.
Look how their fleshy treasures
dissolve in the sun before their very eyes.
To love something
you must have considered what it means
to do without. You must have thought
about it—the coefficient of the body
is another body—but do not forget
that there are people who are willing
to staple your palm to your chest.
Know there are places it isn’t wise to go.
Begin again if you must: there are ways
to make up for what you have been before,
the dust in the corners that collects you.
Sympathy is overrated.
Rethink how lack
becomes everyone’s master, drives us
into town and spends our money.
Quiet: the trees are napping.
Water meets itself again.
We reach for the days that precede us
and the world keeps us from knowing
too much. The body loves music,
the abandoned road of it;
each day a peel
lengthens in the shadow of blossoms,
fabric weaves itself into light.
Pay attention to the patterns. They repeat—
terraces erode, groves lie fallow—
order is cognate of joy.
Recommended Listening
Prepping my April playlist to set the mood for my 10-day self-imposed summer residency in Goa from Thursday. Happy listening!
Links of the Week
Goa Poetry Workshop Alert
Thrilled to announce my upcoming poetry workshop in Goa at the lovely Prose Patisserie and Cafe, Goa on April 21st, 4pm to 6pm. 🍰📝
I’ll be spending 10 days in Moira from Thursday, and hope to pick up local cues and prompts to include in the workdshop, which is designed to make poetry accessible to all. Please reply/DM @thealiporepost to sign up. 🙆🏻♀️☕️
Parting words
A reminder from Co-Star before I send this out into the world:
May you fall in love with the world,
Rohini
To the stranger:
There's still
a streak of light here
and it throbs - this dark
nice collection of poems. TY