i took {poetry thursday}
Tonight, as my "to do" list fights with my "people I seem to be letting down lately" list for the top spot on my inbox and the television speaks only sadness, I took a break. From all of it. I took a break holding a Spire cider in one hand and Billy Collins or rather the poetry of Billy Collins in the other. I took a break sitting on my front step as day turned into dusk pulling on the hem of evening's skirt. I took a break from all of it. I took a break with a cider and Billy Collins. I took a break from grief as I skipped over poems that called to me with titles like "The Dead" and "The Afterlife."
I allowed laughter in.
I took a break from it all and spent time with laughter as I read "The Hunt" four times to paint the described landscape in my mind. I let this landscape where Noah Webster and his assistants hunt a new word become, for a moment, my landscape. I took a break with laughter. I took a break. From all of it. I took a break from fixing when I turned to "Going Out for Cigarettes" and nestled inside these words:
Let us say this is the place where the man who goes out
for cigarettes finally comes to rest: on a riverbank
above the long, inquisitive wriggling of that line,sitting content in the quiet picnic of consciousness
I took a break and let Billy Collins remind me.
I took a break sitting on the front step as dusk settled over the stretching northwest skyline. I took a break. From all of it. I took a break to breathe in nature and words. I began to breathe in every word and then found myself suddenly chewing. As I reread "Metamorphosis" I was suddenly chewing as though if eating "If Kafka could turn a man into an insect in one sentence perhaps he could turn me into something new" and "Not that I am miserable, but I could use a change" would cause the page to turn and I would find myself away. From all of it. From the fighting, stretching lists. I even contemplated consuming the ant that crawled across the words as though his ability to walk on the actual letters would make the words grow inside me and root.
I took a break. From all of it. I took a break and watched the ant crawl across page 70 then 71 and toward the back cover. I took a drink then gave the ant freedom with the understanding of safety from me and Kafka and Collins.
I took a break. From all of it. I took a break with cider and Collins and dusk turning into a warm breezy August nightfall. I took a break to remind myself. I took a break to let poetry remind me of myself.
I took a break. From all of it. I took a break until I could no longer read the words in the dimming light.
I took a break to remember.
I took a break to remember me.
*****
Poems mentioned are from Questions About Angels by Billy Collins. To read "Metamorphosis" in its entirety, click over to this Washington Post article. Note that the poem ends right before the last paragraph (the last word of the poem is face); this isn't clear in the online layout.
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Reader Comments (18)
This was a super post Liz -- very engaging and enjoyable! I am drawn to the levelness and wit of Collins -- in a way similar to my love of Gary Snyder.
There is such a wonderfully lush and smooth warmness in this -- it melts like something comforting and nourishing. Really beautiful.
:)
To take a break.
To find that voice within that is submerged in the daily noise.
To take a break.
Thank you for the timely reminder to breathe and live.
Rose
xo
We all need to take a breaks before we break under duress. Up poetry (as opposed to down poetry, of course) and cider sound irresistible right now.
Life has a tendency to get too busy. When that happoens I feel like I have lost my soul in it all. So I can totally relate to this wonderful post. Billy Collins is great. My favorites for times like this are Mary Oliver and Charles Wright. Ahhhhh.....
very warm and hypnotic. It just tugged me right along.
You lulled and pulled at me with all those repeating "breaks" like a log against the shore of a summer lake.
I loved it.
And have only recently read Billy Collins myself, The Trouble with Poetry: And Other Poems. I had no idea how much I would like him. I'll seek out that article. (And thanks for the last word, too. I would have been hung out once I got to there.)
what a clever post this is. Billy Collins is wonderful - the questions about angels.
Also enjoyed the photos on your blog and your assemblages; very nice visit!
A beautiful and inspiring post, this. Thank you so much for sharing this gorgeous painting in prose.
Hugs,
Hedwyg
Terrific post. How seldom do we take breaks, respites from the invasive daily grief. Collins has much to offer in the humor of it all. I'll re-read your post...
This is beautiful.
I agree with all those above: this is a wonderful, wonderful post.
What a beautiful post! It made me "feel" your break, the joy of it, the solace of it. I needed that. Thank you.
I love hearing about people let poetry into their lives--Billy Collins is awesome. Thanks for posting this.
YouTube has a selection of animated poems by Billy Collins.
Here's a link to "The Dead":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuTNdHadwbk
my dearest one.. your words are equally as touching and beautiful.. always speaking to the heart and calling for deep reflection.
i sorely... miss our letters... we must promise to continue after they have returned from their far away visit.
october seems much... much to far away
your poem reminds me just how long it has really been since i sat down and was lost in a poem....
i wanna take a break....
Wow, Liz, this is a beautiful piece of writing. I can just feel the cares of day-to-day life evaporating into the thin air around you as your break leads you back to the true you.
Liz, this post was just lovely. I get lost so, so often. I forget to take a break. Sometimes when I remember, I'm still unable to take a break. I don't know why it can be so hard. But the next time I hit the wall, I'm going to grab some cider and Billy Collins and call it a Liz treatment. That was pretty inspiring ;) You rule.