Poetic Favorites

You never really think about how many words exist. Thousands upon thousands with new ones constantly being created across any given language. Most words are straightforward and pretty mundane or fanciful variations of it. Some are used to describe an oddly specific thing that you never considered needed a name until you happened across it’s existence. I’m constantly pleased that an arrangement of simple words, with specific intentions, can envoke a range of emotions.

So why all the talk about words?

For those who don’t know, and those who do, April is National Poetry Month. It’s an excellent time to dig into the works of poets past and present, old and young across a wide range works across the world. And since being a poet isn’t binding commitment, you can try your hand at it without feeling restricted. You can follow more traditional rules or just write however feels right, poetry can be written by anyone.

It’s a medium I’ve dabbled in throughout my life, both in reading and writing. I started reading poetry more frequently in recent years to be more descriptive in my own writing but mostly because I miss expressing myself in the way poetry allows. Other poets might write for the same reasons. I’ve listed a few of my favorite poems I sometimes reflect on.

What I Believe

I believe that, the older we get,
the weaker the body,
but the stronger the soul.

I believe that if you roll over at night
in an empty bed,
the air consoles you.

I believe that no one is spared
the darkness,
and no one gets all of it.

– Michael Blumenthal

This isn’t the entire poem but this portion is my current favorite. It offers reassurance in that you’ll always move forward despite what happens in life.

Untitled

i waited for her in
the shadow of my past
tracing faded footprints
memorizing lingering scents

i looked for her in
the future we abandoned
seeking out untouched doors
and spotless, shining windows

from Radiant Souls, Lenee H.

‘What was’ and ‘what could have been’ paints a lonely picture of longing. Someone once loved now barely a memory. I can only strive to write something as emotional.

Ancestry

I am such a long way from my ancestors now
in my extreme old age that I feel more one of them
than their descendant. Time comes around
in a bodily way I do not understand. Age undoes itself
and plays the Ouroboros. I the only daughter
have always been one of the tiny grandmothers,
laughing at everything, uncomprehending, incomprehensible

– Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin has been heralded as one of the greatest sci-fi authors of our time. Her poetry is no different, in my opinion.

When we think of aging, it’s done though a physical sense; the deterioration of the body and mind rather than our proximity to those who came before us.

This one isn’t necessarily a poem but I felt like sharing it anyway:

May we all be present enough
to notice the light
when it finds us.
May we be open enough
to welcome it.
And receive it.

Sometimes we look for the light, but we’re already surrounded by it. It’s flooding from inside of us. May we be open enough to see it.

– Paola Mathé

I don’t know if Mrs. Mathé considers herself a poet but her outlook on life, and the ups and downs it contains, is certainly poetic. She’s a joy to follow on Instagram if you want a bit of color in your own day to day life.

Poetry has always been the expression of the rhythms of our lives and the world both around and beyond us. It only makes sense that humans would gravitate to it as a creative outlet. We are all poets. Even if you don’t believe it yet.

.chel