a poem, a practice

This week’s prompt was inspired by a conversation I had with the parents of a friend of my mother’s. The conversation took place about eight years ago in the kitchen of the house they had lived in throughout their more than 50 years of marriage. Years later, I sit here on my couch, with a laptop before me, working on a poem inspired by that conversation. Honoring the lesson, yet again, that every moment is poetry.

The poem is still a work in progress, so I will not share it today…

As I mentioned in a post earlier this week, I have been reading Daniel Ladinsky’s translations of poems by the Sufi poet Hafiz. Almost every day this week I have picked up the collection of poems found in The Gift and let the book flip open to a page. I read the poem that lives on that page aloud. And take a breath. And sit with it. And try to eek out all the answers I can find from it.

Today, the poem* living on the page I turned to:

When You Can Endure

When
The words stop
And you can endure the silence

That reveals your heart’s
Pain

Of emptiness
Or that great wrenching-sweet longing.

That is the time to try and listen
To what the Beloved’s
Eyes

Most want
To

Say.

Today, I began the practice my teacher gave me last Saturday.

Part of the practice is an inner-guided, silent meditation. Another part of the practice is a speaking meditation of sorts. Listening to the silence, then listening to myself as I give energy to the words that are trapped within my throat, and then coming back to the silence once again. Opening the head and the heart to something greater than me.

Today, I opened The Gift and discovered…

this poem is my practice.

*shared with permission

Comments

[Star]

Very thougtful poetry in "The Gift." I wish you luck in your practice and look forward to reading your poem.

[Sam]

Beautiful!
sam

[Patry Francis]

What a marvelous poem! thank you for sharing it--

[wendy]

Oh how I wish you could rub a little "you" off on me. I wish I had your focus.

Great poem!

[Rethabile]

Nice. Can't wait to read your Walls.

[East of Oregon]

Very nice... take care:)

[ren.kat]

For lots of reasons, my poetry practice lately is reading translated works- Hafiz among them. And opening myself to something my literary educaton has biased me toward.

I'm opening slowly- and this kind of meditation must be the key. Thanks for sharing!

[la vie en rose]

i really have to get myself a copy of the gift...

[Poet with a Day Job]

This is great. I love the way the shape and smallness of lines makes you read it in a certain way, taking deep pauses and breaths. Thanks!

[Susannah]

this is beautiful, my love x

[a m y]

Ooooh! This poem is fabulous. Yes, yes, yes! I so admire your progress in your practice.

Have fun seeing David Whyte! I want a full report, my dear!

[Alexandra S]

I like doing that to Liz, opening to the pages of books, whether they be poetry or other, and somehow finding what I need to dwell on on the random page, or really, not random! I'm so glad you have found a medium that brings you so much joy and fulfillment. Most of all I am glad you are feeling better. Will be in touch this weekend though I am moving and pretty crazy swamped! BUt I am thinking of you and looking forward to talking asap!!xoxo

[Bice]

self discovery is such a liberating process isn't it?

Also I find the more compact a piece gets the fuller the meaning required of each word chosen. This work is bloated with substance.

[Jone]

Love the poem and now Ihave a new book to look for. The writing prompt this week was great.

[slynne]

I enjoyed this post. I read the poem alone, and then the rest of your post. With only reading the poem, I thought about a house left empty. Lovely. Also, I hope we get to read your unfinished poem sometime...