Lines that bring me back
For the lonely, the bridge is a seam
between two skies.
- Julia B. Levine
excerpt from Golden Gate
It's heartbreaking some days, the beauty of language.
I have walked away, away from words. Between productivity and creativity, a division is made and I have lived in an urgency to get this done and that started. Everything is a checklist to the next set of things undone things, people untended.
Deep in the fog of work and chores, I have wasted days. Still, words stirred, called to me. Come back, they urged.
The birds move like ballet dancers in the air
but sound like truckers at a roadside bar.
- Debra Smith
from Terns flock to Everett paper mill after it closes
Today, I woke again, startled. After days of numb, I am drawn to an evocative line, a catchy phrase, the whirl of words. How had I missed them? How I had missed them!
Silence can be a plan
rigorously executedthe blueprint to a life
It is a presence
it has a history a formDo not confuse it
with any kind of absence
- Adrienne Rich
excerpt from Cartographies of Silence
What words call you? What lines or phrases draw you in, bring you back to yourself?
Monday, July 30, 2012 at 11:43AM
Reader Comments (10)
Really fun topic (and good lines you've mentioned).
Interestingly, I recently held a reading where the theme was "Words We Return To." One that I love from Jane Hirshfield:http://poetryhoard.tumblr.com/post/26252758164/jane-hirshfield-bone
And this Franz Wright one just kills me (no pun intended):
On Earth
Resurrection of the little apple tree outside
my window, leaf-
light of late
in the April
called her eyes, forget
forget-
but how
How does one go
about dying?
Who on earth
is going to teach me-
The world
is filled with people
who have never died
Oh Hannah,
"On Earth" is just beautiful. Those last lines!
And Jane Hirshfield is one of my favorite poets. Thank you for sharing the words to which you return -- and what a great theme for a reading. That is one I would like to attend -- whereabouts (in the world) are you? Perhaps our paths may someday cross.
Also, I love the linebreaks on that Wright poem.
Mary Oliver's "Wild Geese" is a constant source of comfort and grounding. Here is an excerpt:
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
[. . .]
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
Excellent example, Allyson! Thank you.
And I like your description — "comfort and grounding." Yes. That's exactly what poems, phrases and lines do for me.
Some Kiss We Want
There is some kiss we want with
our whole lives, the touch of
spirit on the body.
Seawater
begs the pearl to break its shell.
And the lily, how passionately
it needs some wild darling!
At night, I open the window and ask
the moon to come and press its
face against mine.
Breathe into me.
Close the language-door and
open the love window.
The moon
won't use the door, only the window.
--Rumi. Translator: Coleman Barks
That's a lovely poem, Nancy. Thanks for sharing it here.
When asked by an interviewer how he handles it when the day's writing has been less than stellar, William Stafford said:
"Well, then, I just lower my standards."
Ahhhh, an excellent reminder. Thank you, Linnea.
These are beautiful prompts, Drew.
Thank you for sharing them with all of us.
I've added them to my notebook for writing this week.
xo
Ann