During the first year of blogging, I read more poetry. At some point I began incorporating 10 minutes of each of my early morning sessions. When I came across a poem that attracted my attention I noted the page number on my bookmark. I'd later go back and re-read. Sometimes I'd blog about it. During February of 2021, I stumbled on the Twitter feed of Kazuko M. @EstherHawdon, who often posts haiku matches with Japanese block prints... which was another interest I investigated this year.
Poetry in General
"Poetry is in the world, in thing, in people" (September 9, 2021) From Richardson's Emerson biography, a section on Emerson's "The Poet," which Richardson lionizes as the best thing written about poetry. Emerson says that "Emerson also insists that the poet is a sayer, a namer, and not a maker. A poem is the result of seeing and saying; the art is in the process. The final product marks the end, the death, of the process, the point at which fossilization sets in.... Poetry for Emerson is not a collection of finished poems but the process that produces poems."
"We are Not Unspectacular Things" (April 2, 2021) is a PBS Newshour video of Ada Limon's apology for poetry... which is a way to speak in complex, fully-human ways.
"Golden Shovel Poem" (March 28, 2021) from NYT, this is a poetic form where you start with a favorite line of poem and write one where each line ends with one of the words (in order).
"A Year of Being Here" (December 17, 2020) refers to a poetry website that posted for three years a poem that was "mindful" in nature (my words). I hadn't consider that as a category!
"A story about 'A Story of the Body'" (October 2, 2020) is a reflection on my changing reaction to this poem -- from admiration to disgust. From identification to embarrassment about that identification and about the poem itself.
Haiku
"There's also joy in loneliness" (November 14, 2021) Autumn evening/there's joy also in loneliness - by Buson Yosa
"The Owl Being Owl" (November 13 ,2021) The owl, being an owl, and I , being me, can't sleep - Santoka
"This Autumn Evening" (November 4, 2021) This autumn eveing/ I feel even more lonely/ than last year. - Buson Yosa
"The Scrawny Pine Too Looks Extravagant" (November 3, 2021) The scrawny pine, too/looks extravagant... summer moon Issa Kobayashi
"Traveling Geese" (October 27, 2021) is by Issa Kobayahsi. Traveling Geese/the human heart, too/ wanders
"The Scrawny Pine Looks Extravagant" (October 8, 2021) is by Issa Kobayahsi. The scrawny pine, too/ looks extravagant.../summer moon
"A Hot Day's Treasure" (July 21, 2021) is the haiku that starts with that line by Issa Kobayashi.
"When There are Mountains "(July 14, 2021) is the haiku that starts with that line.
"More Favorite Haiku" (July 1, 2021) is a collection of haiku not from the masters below. Kazuko M. @EstherHawdon on Twitter,
"Favorite Haiku by Natsume Soseki" (May 1, 2021" is a collection of haiku that I've recently discovered by Soseki.
"Favorite Haikue by Yosa Buson " (April 1, 2021) is a collection of haiku from Yosa Buson.
"Thorns Yet Blossoms" (March 21, 2021) is a haiku by Issa Kobayashi
which helps us remember that the world is both.... thorns YET blossoms.
I reflect on how it's so easy to focus on thorns.... be primed for
thorns.
"Favorite Haiku by Kobavashi Issa" (March 1, 2021) is a collection of haiku from Issa.
"Middle Season Haikus" (February 24, 2021) is a selection of haikus broken down by season.
"Favorite Hiaku by Basho" (February 23, 2021) is a collection of haiku from Basho.
Wendel Berry
"Zero" (June 23, 2021) is a poem by Wendel Berry that seems to be about right living, starting off into the world afresh each day with passion, with intention, starting from no place -- from "zero."
"The Country of Marriage" (June 19, 2021) is a Wendell Berry's poem that describes how it feels to be in love... like a wanderer back on familiar land, inadequate to love, surprised, nourished, guided by love. I posted this on our wedding day with a picture of us just entering "The Country of Marriage."
"A Song Sparrow Singing in the Fall" (June 8, 2021) is a short poem by Wendell Berry. The speaker marvels at how "earth, air, rain, and light" all "somehow" added up to the song sparrow. It marvels at nature.
"The Wild Geese" (June 7, 2021) is a short poem by Wendell Berry. There's a couple wonderful parts, including the repetition of "Everything we need is here" and "abandon/as in love and sleep, holds/them to their way."
Billy Collins
"My Hero" (August 3, 2021) is Billy Collins' poem about that praises the tortoise over the hare.
"The Way a Cloud Fills With Rain" (July 9, 2021) is about a section of Billy Collins' poem "Istambul" that describes taking pleasure in a simple act and how gratefulness fills you up.
"Attention and Love" (June 27, 2021) is a summary of several poems from Billy Collins' "Aimless Love" collected poems that outline his picture of "right living" -- loving attention, a realization of the transitory nature of things.
"Speed Lines" (June 26, 2021) is a section of Billy Collins' poem by that name. It's a playful momento mori, a realization of the transitory nature of existence.
Jane Kenyon
"Donald Hall and Jane Kenyon videos" (June 5, 2021) are links to Bill Moyers' video program about the two of them and 111 (!) short videos that are Donald Hall interviews, many include his relationship to Jane.
Ted Kooser
"PRE code for formatting poetry" (May 5, 2021) is the poem "November 15" from Ted Kooser ("my wife and I walk the cold road/in silence, asking for thirty more years." and also the HTML formatting to make poetry look like poetry.
"Winter Morning Walks and Ted Kooser" (April 29, 2021) This includes two poems - December 2 and January 8, and characterizes what Kooser is doing in this remarkable book. I relate it to the "art projects" of doing the same type of thing for a long period.... in this instance, it's 100 postcard poems to Jim Harrison.
Ada Limon
"The End of Poetry" (May 15, 2021) is Ada Limon's poem of that title. It's a weary statement rejecting common tropes of poetry, ending with the line "I am asking you to touch me."
"Before" (April 15, 2021) is a rememberance of her father. Ends with If you live,/you look back and beg/for it again, the hazardous/bliss before you know/what you would miss.
"Privacy" (April 5, 2021) is about a crow, and the unknowability of the world, the lack of guidance.
"We are Not Unspectacular Things" (April 2, 2021) is a PBS Newshour video of Ada Limon's apology for poetry... which is a way to speak in complex, fully-human ways.
"The Raincoat" (March 29, 2021) Ada Limon poem that ends "My god// I thought, my whole life I’ve been under her/ raincoat thinking it was somehow a marvel
that I never got wet."
Kay Ryan
"On 'Nutrients in Failure'" (November 4, 2020) This is Kay Ryan's poem "Failure 2" which deals with thinking about unasked for benefits of failure in your life. Not just making lemonade from lemons, but what nutrition is there in failure. I reflect on my failure to guide Henry for the past 16 months and ask, what is there to gain in that?
"What do we have to show for it?" (November 3, 2020) Is Kay Ryan's poem "Dutch" along with a Farhad Manjoo quip about wasting our time thinking about Donald Trump. The poem is about how much of life is like us trying to keep the cracks of the dike filled while rich people stand around.
"On 'what change costs us'" (November 2, 2020) is Kay Ryan's poem "Why we must struggle" and a reflection about why the poem means so much to me at that point. It's about how will we know about what sustains us longest or what changes costs us.
Others
"My Mother's Body" (August 16, 2021) is Marie Howe's poem that appreciates her mother and appreciates her own long limbs and hair (etc) that she got from her mother. Those two things go well together.
"The World" (August 15, 2021) is Marie Howe's poem that reflects on her inattention to the world and its beauty.
"Why the Novel is Necessary and Sometimes Hard to Read" (August 12, 2021) is Marie Howe's poem that concerns her dying brother and the act of reading plot and making sense of someone else's life. "This is the life that we've written," the novel tells us. "and what comes next?"
"Your Future Lurks Within You" (May 27, 2021) is about Rilke's strange conception of fate and character. It references his famous poem "Archaic Torso of Apollo." There's a connection to getting letters and seeing yourself as an idealized self that others see you as.
"My Father's Coat" (March 30, 2021) is Marc Smith's poem about his father. I thought about this after the Ada Limon poem "The Raincoat".
"Track: 'Girl in Trouble is a Temporary Thing'" (March 6, 2021) by Barbara Jane Reyes (from NYT poem in the NYT Mag Jan 28, 2021)
"Hokusai Says" (March 3, 2021) is a poem about a Japanese print block artist by Robert Keyes that Tara Brach references in a couple different places. It includes the line "let life live through you.
"The Gate" (February 21, 2021) is a poem by Marie Howe with the line "this is what you have been waiting for."
"Above Everything" (December 22, 2020) is a poem by David Ignatow that starts with suicidal thoughts and ends with general praise for existence and particulars of the world.
"As Sparks from a Dying Fire, Reach out to meet the darkness" (December 14, 2021) is a poem from a collection called Early Buddhist Nuns. It has some great lines like the title of the post. It's about doing things decisively.
"Arthur Sze Transpirations" (November 30, 2020) is a poem of that title by that writer. I note the "rhyming" of natural things (leaning trees/grass) from line to line and the question "have you lived with utmost care?" Feels very Buddhist.
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