poetry thursday

(finding my inner haiku)

A chickadee chirps;
the pillow under my head,
my ears awaken.

*******

Want to go to a poetry reading? Poets.org has a great calendar of events on their site. Check it out and report back if you attend any readings in a city near you!

Friday is Poem in Your Pocket Day in NYC. I think this idea is fantastic! Carrying a poem in your pocket that you share with friends, family, co-workers, the people who make your latte at Starbucks - the possibilities are endless!

Some people have shared that Poetry Thursday has invited them to discover or rediscover poetry. I love this. If you still aren't sure poetry is for you, I invite you to check out this poem from the Poem in Your Pocket Day website.

*******

As always, if you want to participate in Poetry Thursday, share a poem on your blog (if you don't have a blog, leave a poem here in the comments). The poem can be one your write or one by someone else (just be sure to give them credit and it is also great to include where you found the poem in case people want to check the book/publication/website out themselves). After you post your poem, you are welcome to leave a comment here so people know you have posted. If you want to be added to the sidebar of participants, just send me an email.

Happy reading! And I invite you to find your inner haiku...maybe not today, but someday soon...

when you are ready.

poetry thursday

Two more poems from The Gift: Poems by Hafiz the Great Sufi Master, translated by Daniel Ladinsky.

The Sun Never Says

Even
After
All this time
The sun never says to the earth,

"You owe
Me."

Look
What happens
With a love like that,
It lights the
Whole
Sky.

This Sky

This

Sky

Where we live

Is no place to lose your wings

So love, love,

Love.

(Thanks Matt for sharing this book with me and introducing me to the first poem this morning.)

*****

I keep forgetting to share that April is National Poetry Month. Poetry Daily will email you a poem every day this month if you sign up for their newsletter. There have been some great ones; each of them has commentary by another poet/author. Very cool.

*****

Stay tuned for some exciting developments for Poetry Thursday. Lynn and I are cooking up a little something and will unveil it soon.

As always, to participate in Poetry Thursdays share a poem on your blog. A poem you write yourself or a poem by another. Feel free to share your link here in the comments so that others will know you have posted. If you are not on the list of participants and would like to be added, please send me an email.

I hope the poems you read today cause you to pause, even for just one small moment, and remember who you are. Happy reading.

a poem for a sunday

Portland. This is some kind of town. Powell's. What more could a girl want. Truly, I am ready to move in. All I need is a pillow and I would be good to go (they have yoga mats, food, coffee, and more books than I could read in six lifetimes...but I sure would like to try). They had a poetry reading while we were there Saturday afternoon...I walked out with five new books of poetry...more on all of this soon, but I wanted to share a poem from a poet my brother introduced me to this weekend.

The Vintage Man

The
Difference
Between a good artist
And a great one

Is:

The novice
Will often lay down his tool
Or brush

Then pick up an invisible club
On the mind’s table

And helplessly smash the easels and
Jade.

Whereas the vintage man
No longer hurts himself or anyone

And keeps on
Sculpting

Light.

Hafiz

(from The Gift: Poems by Hafiz the Great Sufi Master translations by Daniel Ladinsky)

poetry thursday

I am moved to share one of my own poems today. In eighth grade, we had to create a book of poetry as a project for English. As I looked for old pictures and postcards to take with me for a class at ArtFest, I stumbled across this book of my own poetry. Here is one that resonated in this early morning hour.

The Awakening

Across the sky

The colors vividly awaken

All that is around

The trees seem to stretch

As the sunlight fills the air

The birds begin to flutter

And sing sweetly as the sun rises

It is another day

A new beginning

No matter what happens today,

Tomorrow

The sunrise will always be there

Waking up all of nature.

Elizabeth Morgan (age 13)

A thanks to Kat for suggesting people create their own poem this week and participate in Poetry Thursday. Please leave a comment with a link to your blog if you did write a poem as part of Contagious Creativity!

**********

I also want to share a link to a wonderful site I discovered tonight. Some of you have either shared and enjoyed poems by William Stafford. This is a site dedicated to raising awareness of the power of poetry in Stafford's memory/honor. I have only just begun to explore this website, but it already speaks to my heart. It is very inspiring...

**********

And as always, if you would like to participate in Poetry Thursday, please share a poem on your blog. You can leave a comment here to let everyone know that you have posted one today. Also, if you want to be added to the list of participants, please send me an email (and if you sent me an email but you are not on the participant list, please send me a friendly reminder).

Happy reading!

***

Poetry Thursday was a weekly poetry project that I created and then co-ran with another blogger back in 2006-2007. The site is no longer online.

poetry thursday

Poem Without a Category

Trailing my stick I go down to the garden edge,
call to a monk to go out the pine gate.
A cup of tea with my mother,
looking at each other, enjoying our tea together.
In the deep lanes, few people in sight;
the dog barks when anyone comes or goes.
Fall floods have washed away the planks of the bridge;
shouldering our sandals, we wade the narrow stream.
By the roadside, a small pavilion
where there used to be a little hill:
it helps out our hermit mood;
country poems pile one sheet on another.
I dabble at the flow, delighted by the shallowness of the stream,
gaze at the flagging, admiring how firm the stones are.
The point in life it to know what's enough—
why envy those otherworld immortals?
With the happiness held in one inch-square heart
you can fill the whole space between heaven and earth.

Gensei (1623-1668), translated by Burton Watson
(from the book The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry edited by Stephen Mitchell)

***********

I have been reading the poem Revolutionary Dreams by Nikki Giovanni over and over for the last few months (it is from the book The Women and The Men). And as I read it, I wished I could hear Ms. Giovanni read it out loud to the world. I decided to see if she has a website, and she does. If you click over to it and then go down to multimedia, you can hear her read a few of her poems. You too can attend a poetry reading from your own bed, still in your pajamas, with your laptop on your lap.

************

Happy Thursday everyone!
If you have shared a poem on your blog today, please leave a comment so people can find your blog. (And if you want to be added to the list of regular participants, please email me.) Thank you for sharing poetry...
Blessings to you all.