A lovely--and apt--poem about repentance by Jon Karsemeyer. Unfortunately, I can't seem to hold his spacing ...
Birthday Cake/Chocolate Chips
Repentance means turning
from denial and error. If
you've tried it you know
it's a really really good idea.
If you never made a mistake
you may not know. Some
actually, too many!
believe that they could
not be mistaken.
I've tried that too.
... Sorry
Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Monday, April 27, 2009
Poem by Keely
In continued celebration of National Poetry month, here is a poem by my friend Keely Lewis, a student at Olney. Keely has been published in TeenInk, The Mad Hatter, The Connector (which is a newspaper for her presbytery) and has won honorable mention in The Florida Review's "Young Voices Award".
M2F
He's read the pen marks on my palm
and glanced across my arms
looking for the brand
of a woman on trial.
I'm getting in touch with my feminine side,
adding a slash mark with an S in front
to the dominant pronoun of the world,
looking forward and backward
for who won the game of Life
and Health and Every Good.
Amen, he sighs, which is my prayer too.
He's all rolled up in such a mess
that even the magic word--love--can't separate
the strands of must from the fibers of can.
Keely Lewis
M2F
He's read the pen marks on my palm
and glanced across my arms
looking for the brand
of a woman on trial.
I'm getting in touch with my feminine side,
adding a slash mark with an S in front
to the dominant pronoun of the world,
looking forward and backward
for who won the game of Life
and Health and Every Good.
Amen, he sighs, which is my prayer too.
He's all rolled up in such a mess
that even the magic word--love--can't separate
the strands of must from the fibers of can.
Keely Lewis
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Happy Birthday Shakespeare
Today is, I believe, Shakespeare's birthday. Did you see the portrait of him that was recently authenticated? Do you have a favorite play or sonnet?
Because I was an English major in college and then working on a Phd. in English, I was exposed to quite a bit of Shakespeare in "the day." Some of my happiest memories are of being an card-carrying member of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. The librarians--underpaid and twentysomethings, just like me--would gleefully fill me in on gossip about the famous scholars. Also, every afternoon, the library served an English tea, an elegant event that a starving graduate student living in a bleak bauhaus apartment complex couldn't help but appreciate.
I have found that in recent years I am still especially fond of Hamlet and A Midsummer's Night Dream. My first exposure to Shakespeare was watching cartoon versions of these two plays performed on television by Mr. Magoo. I still remember Mr. Magoo talking to the ghost of his father in Hamlet and running around with an ass's head in A Midsummer's Night Dream.
In any case, I imagine the author of the love sonnets would appreciate my leaving graduate school for amore ... or so I hope!
Because I was an English major in college and then working on a Phd. in English, I was exposed to quite a bit of Shakespeare in "the day." Some of my happiest memories are of being an card-carrying member of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. The librarians--underpaid and twentysomethings, just like me--would gleefully fill me in on gossip about the famous scholars. Also, every afternoon, the library served an English tea, an elegant event that a starving graduate student living in a bleak bauhaus apartment complex couldn't help but appreciate.
I have found that in recent years I am still especially fond of Hamlet and A Midsummer's Night Dream. My first exposure to Shakespeare was watching cartoon versions of these two plays performed on television by Mr. Magoo. I still remember Mr. Magoo talking to the ghost of his father in Hamlet and running around with an ass's head in A Midsummer's Night Dream.
In any case, I imagine the author of the love sonnets would appreciate my leaving graduate school for amore ... or so I hope!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
On Poetry
April is National Poetry Month, and I don't want to miss mentioning it.
On May 10, Olney held a poetry reading to celebrate the month. Anybody could get up and read or recite a poem and 44 people did. Roger read "Tent" by Reed Whittemore, a NOT deceased but still alive University of Maryland poet and mentor of his who was poet laureate of the United States in, I believe, 1988. Roger also read "Dog" by Ferlinghetti. I was going to read a Mary Oliver poem, but decided not to. Then our friend Ela, the admissions director, asked Roger and me to read a poem with her that had three "voices."
Anyway, it was quite moving to hear the poems. Some were in foreign languages, some were written by the person reading them, and many of the students memorized their poems. I was reminded of the power of poetry to convey truth and to reach a deeper part of us. Near the end of the session, one of our students, who had previously been in a gang in New Jersey, read a poem he had spontaneously written that revealed some of his soul and made me glad that the school can reach out at least to few teens who mightnot otherwise have made it.
In any case, I wanted to share a poem written by John Karsemeyer. John is a Quaker and the father of Jaya Karsemeyer, admissions assistant at Olney and a friend. John and I had the privilege of visiting Fallingwater together on one of the most glorious fall days ever, when all the leaves were golden, the sun was out, the sky was blue and the temperature was perfect. These things are a grace that you can't control but only accept. In any case, here is one of John's poems as I feel it's important to share the voices of those around us:
Delight/Sacrament
awakening.
I light the fire/it warms me.
Night
I surrender.
Letting go of day/effortlessly/it slips away.
Dreams
of day
fill the spell of sleep/until dawn breaks.
God
is simple,
everything else/complex.
********
Do you remember a poem or poems you'd like to mention?
On May 10, Olney held a poetry reading to celebrate the month. Anybody could get up and read or recite a poem and 44 people did. Roger read "Tent" by Reed Whittemore, a NOT deceased but still alive University of Maryland poet and mentor of his who was poet laureate of the United States in, I believe, 1988. Roger also read "Dog" by Ferlinghetti. I was going to read a Mary Oliver poem, but decided not to. Then our friend Ela, the admissions director, asked Roger and me to read a poem with her that had three "voices."
Anyway, it was quite moving to hear the poems. Some were in foreign languages, some were written by the person reading them, and many of the students memorized their poems. I was reminded of the power of poetry to convey truth and to reach a deeper part of us. Near the end of the session, one of our students, who had previously been in a gang in New Jersey, read a poem he had spontaneously written that revealed some of his soul and made me glad that the school can reach out at least to few teens who mightnot otherwise have made it.
In any case, I wanted to share a poem written by John Karsemeyer. John is a Quaker and the father of Jaya Karsemeyer, admissions assistant at Olney and a friend. John and I had the privilege of visiting Fallingwater together on one of the most glorious fall days ever, when all the leaves were golden, the sun was out, the sky was blue and the temperature was perfect. These things are a grace that you can't control but only accept. In any case, here is one of John's poems as I feel it's important to share the voices of those around us:
Delight/Sacrament
awakening.
I light the fire/it warms me.
Night
I surrender.
Letting go of day/effortlessly/it slips away.
Dreams
of day
fill the spell of sleep/until dawn breaks.
God
is simple,
everything else/complex.
********
Do you remember a poem or poems you'd like to mention?
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