Day Six of Lent, and a poem by Li Po

Today I was actually early with my daily poem.  I taught both Silver Sneakers Yoga Stretch, and Pilates.  I'm finding these two classes kindly receptive to my reading to them.  I find that the cool down period and the beginning breathing a good time to read.

My poem for today:

 

Written While Wandering the White River in Nan-Yang, After Climbing Onto the Rocks

Morning up near White River origins,

and suddenly that human world’s gone:

islands all end-of-the-earth beauty,

river and sky a vast vacant clarity.

Ocean clouds leave the eye’s farewell,

and the mind idle, river fish wander.

Chanting, I linger out a setting sun,

then return moonlit to a farmland hut.

--Li Po, from The Selected Poems of Li Po

For a link to more of his poems, visit Famous Poets and Poems . com

Oops, Missed a Day!

But not really.  I remember that I hadn't yet shared a poem for yesterday, and was already in bed.  I weighed getting out of bed (I'd already gotten up once to have my son check his blood sugar and was going to do that again in a couple of hours, and I'd already turned off the computer) with staying in it.  Then I realised I had my iPod nearby, so I pulled it under the covers and looked for a poem to share before it was too late.

The one I selected was again from Poetry Daily, and I shared it on Facebook.  A wonderful poem written by Tina Chang, entitled "Patriotism," the language is confident and truthful, and isn't worried about getting down into the dirt, looking for new life. 

Here, in keeping with my Lenten promise to myself (to share a poem a day with one person or more) and with links to Poetry Daily and Four Way Books, is the poem:

Patriotism

The village was in tatters, smoking before it spoke,
shrapnel in a lung, a toothache in a guilty mouth.

There's something in the back of my mind I'd like
to remember, rubble there and a shovel for digging.

We stood in the deep muck for years. I wrote
love notes to nurse him back to health. If he dreamed

origami cranes I kept folding this paper inward
and inward until it bloomed and found velocity.

To get inside the earth's black center, I must have tools.
I must be alert and willful. I sat on the ground

to get down deeper, below kneeling, below bowing
and scramble, and boulder. And when you get that low,

you can mount the cry, the zero. What happened
in the marriage between the heart and its territory?

The tools were man-made, the tools worked slowly with labor.
The work was not without toil. When I found him there

face up, I put my mouth to his mouth, exhaled
for many years, my tongue waving like a flag.
Tina Chang


Of Gods & Strangers
Four Way Books
 

Lent, the 4th day and another poem shared

The poem I found today is by Rachel Elizabeth Griffiths, and is on Poetry Daily.  I was a little last minute with this one, and shared it on Facebook as it felt weird to send it to someone. It's about death, a son lost.  It's a beautiful poem.

Here is the first part:

Perdre

Leave me here
amidst the underworld
of pickaxes. Anvils. Work
horses and sawdust.

The afternoon light
was the texture of language—

dust before a death.

   ...

  Oh, and I did get the Fellowship application done, and sent off today. Phew!

Another day, another poem

It's nice to be back into a poetry phase.  I feel more connected with my writing again, and am revisiting work I started as exercises awhile back.  Haven't really written anything new though, but I'm really looking forward to getting together with two good friends, Annette and Kelli, for a writing day on Weds. 

Today I made a curtain for the side door, as a way to block out the chaos of the mudroom.  It's already up, and makes the kitchen and dining rooms look so different.  I like it, and am looking forward to getting the dining area curtains up finally. Also made yogurt, and went through some old clothes to give away.  Just watched Carey Grant in "People Will Talk," which was good.  I still have to get my Artist Trust Fellowship materials in order, to send off tomorrow.  Almost done with that.  And, I found a poem to share today, and sent that to a friend. 

Here's the first part of the poem, and link to Verse Daily, where it appeared:

http://www.versedaily.org/2012/theroosterisperfect.shtml

[The Rooster is Perfect]
       

The rooster is perfect
with his little fat feathered breeches
mohawk, muttonchops
hollering the sunlight down the whole hillside
his beak, his stone-chip eyes are perfect
  ...

 For the rest, just click on the link above to go to Verse Daily.

Off to bed~ 

Oh - and if you're doing something during Lent, feel free to share it with me.  I'd love to hear.