As you probably know by now, April is National Poetry Month, and as it draws to a close, I thought it might be nice to reflect on some of the fun happenings and share a few poems.  Much like with Earth Day, I wish we could have every month set aside to appreciate poetry in its many manifestations.  I find poetry to be such a quiet and powerful mode of reflection, solace, and joy. 

As part of the celebration this month, I signed up to receive Knopf’s Poem-A-Day, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  What a great way to start each morning.  Here's one of my favorites:

Touch-Me-Nots by Jill Bialosky

She brought a little of the country into the city

in the pots of impatiens she had planted.

The petals white, pure, the opposite of color.

She had transferred the impatiens from the garden,

digging her hands into soil two parts fibrous loam,

one part leaf mold and peat moss and pushing

the roots into the earth. Despite the quality

of the soil—its rich decomposition of life—

still they would not last. The plants were hardy

and tender, with thick stems and dark green leaves,

the seedpods inside waiting to release, the air

awash in pollen. She looked into the flower

as into a pair of beckoning eyes offering

sustenance independent of a body, free floating

and regenerative and wholly belonging

to what was impossible ever to touch.

At the bookstore where I work, I set up an Open Mic Poetry Night, and despite the fact that it took place on the eve of an awful blizzard, some people still braved the weather to join us.  We had a great time.  I read a poem of Mark Doty's called "House of Beauty," which I recently heard him read when he was at the Tattered Cover Bookstore in March.  Here's a sample stanza:

In the dark recess beside the sink

--where heads lay back to be laved

under the perfected heads rowed along the walls--

the hopeful photographs of possibility darken,

now that the House of Beauty is burning.

At our Poetry Bookclub this month, we discussed Seamus Heaney’s Spirit Level, which I loved, but which required more of me as a reader than I am used to.  He packs so much into each phrase that a quick read just won’t suffice.  I was thrilled when, at the end of the night, we picked two titles for upcoming meetings: Body Clock by Eleni Sikelianos, and For Love of Common Words by Steve Scafidi.  Scafidi is one of my all-time favorite poets.  Here is a sampling:

The Egg Suckers

To the snakes and the rats and the weasels

   who skulk and tunnel and dig underneath

the moon and the earth to find the shiny

   white ovum of their dreams laying there

warmed under the hen who coughs a little

   moving away in the darkness of the gold

hay and the dust of my chicken coop

   I say hello now from about fifty feet away

in my writing room at the beginning of Spring

   for you are the egg suckers, the midnight

takers-away, the despised and slinky

   snoopers, the geniuses of the world who

will be here when we are no more--

   you who move with such deliberation,

what you want eventually you get, hauling

   the precious cargo gently between your jaws

moving back down through the hole you dug

   cradling the egg, tonguing and sucking on

the white egg I was to gather and I was

   to eat and the poor hen with her one

eye wide open watches you come and go

   as she watches me reach my hand beneath her

in the morning and hold this small compact

   beautiful form up to the sun to admire

the subtle brown of the egg and the perfect

   religious fit of it in my palm and I roll it

across my kitchen table in the morning

   before I crack it open and pour the egg

into my skillet and fry it openly thanking

   the holiness of the hen, this exotic bird

roosting here whose children I eat everyday

   over-easy with black pepper and a spoon.

And don’t forget, tomorrow is Poem-In-Your-Pocket Day (sponsored by The Academy of American Poets), so put a poem in your pocket, share it with a friend or stranger, and spread some poetry love!  Let’s squeeze the last drops of poetry appreciation from these last couple days!

Poetically yours,

Stephanie Walker

Associate Editor

Comments

Add New Search

Write comment

Name: Email:  do not notifynotify Website: Title:   Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

Powered by !JoomlaComment 3.26

3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."