beauty – lucy crispin, poet

dependence

Aug 23, 2022 #beauty, #climate catastrophe, #climate change, #coronavirus, #covid, #Covid 19, #creation, #fear, #grief, #human, #interdependence, #John Daniel, #poem, #social by Lucy Crispin

In the middle of a feverish round of Covid this poem dropped into my inbox (I guess it would be on the 4th July, now I come to think about it): ‘Dependence Day‘ by John Daniel. Struggling as I was with the necessary isolation of Testing Positive, I found the poem really hit home. See how you like it.

poetry appreciation

the same but different

I guess what makes a poem “helpful” is going to vary depending on what sort of help you need on any given day. This week’s poem helps me in a lot of ways, not least its opening reminder that ‘Reason is a fine thing, but… there are other ways/ to live’. “Sense” is not always head sense. What else do you find in Annie Lighthart’s ‘The Verge‘? (Garrison will read it for you at around the 19th line, the tall one after the lowest one, on the audiotrack.)

poetry appreciation

message in a bottle

Oct 7, 2021 #anon., #art, #beauty, #communication, #function of art, #Joyce Glassman, #longing, #message in a bottle, #poet, #poetry, #sorrow, #transmission, #truth, #Western Wind, #Westron Wind, #yearning by Lucy Crispin

I was interested, the other week, to come across these words from Joyce Glassman: “Artists are nourished more by each other than by fame or by the public. To give one’s work to the world is an experience of peculiar emptiness. The work goes away from the artist into a void, like a message stuck into a bottle and flung into the sea.”

poetry appreciation

when repetition works

Jul 29, 2021 #beauty, #existential, #existentialism, #good bones, #life, #life is short, #Maggie smith, #pain, #philosophy, #smith, #suffering by Lucy Crispin

This poem arrived in my inbox the other day and made me smile in an ouch sort of a way. See what you make of ‘Good Bones‘ by Maggie Smith. If you click the little red arrow on the poem page, she’ll even read it to you.

poetry appreciation

something simply beautiful

Jun 25, 2021 #annie lighthart, #beauty, #constancy, #Eternity, #lighthart, #mindful, #mindfulness, #mortality, #presence, #present, #reassurance, #spirit, #spiritual, #the second music by Lucy Crispin

One of those poems I don’t want to murder to dissect, but simply offer you for your delight. I love the way words, used this skilfully and sparely, can pierce us. Here it is: ‘The Second Music‘ by Annie Lighthart.

poetry appreciation

just beautiful

Apr 22, 2021 #awe, #beauty, #being alive, #being human, #Cynthia Zarin, #everyday, #sorrow, #wonder, #Zarin by Lucy Crispin

Sometimes there’s a clear, specific reason why I want to share a poem, usually to do with whichever bees are currently buzzing round my bonnet. This one, though, I wanted to share simply because I find it beautiful and accurate. Here is Cynthia Zarin’s ‘Flowers‘.

poetry appreciation

carpe while you can

Apr 8, 2021 #beauty, #carpe diem, #Gerard Manley Hopkins, #Herrick, #Hopkins, #Robert Herrick, #spring, #to daffodils, #transience by Lucy Crispin

For some reason, the only line I can remember from my first-term-at-Cambridge, deeply-uncomprehending reading of Gawain and the Green Knight is the line ‘Þe snawe snitered ful snart’. The snow snitered a bit this week (though not full snart) out of a beautiful blue sky; very odd and April-ish. We’ve also had some days, though, where ‘that blue has been all in a rush with richness’, so I thought today we could enjoy Hopkins’ lovely hymn to spring (have it read to you here. Poem starts at 1.19):

poetry appreciation

darkling

Dec 31, 2020 #2020, #2021, #beauty, #bravery, #courage, #dread, #fear, #Hardy, #hope, #New Year, #optimism, #pandemic, #The Darkling Thrush, #The Oxen, #Thomas Hardy by Lucy Crispin

Joy and pain, hope and despair, don’t always seem evenly balanced in Hardy, that’s for sure. Just ask Tess. Or Jude. But for the turn of such a year as this I want to remind myself of the beauty-in-the-midst-of-desolation that we find in Hardy’s ‘The Darkling Thrush’. I’m sure it’s familiar to you, but you can re-read (or read) it here.

poetry appreciation

autumn beauty

Oct 29, 2020 #ageing, #autumn, #beauty, #inspire, #melancholy, #poems, #poetry, #school, #swans, #teacher, #The Wild Swans at Coole, #time, #trees, #WB Yeats, #woods, #Yeats by Lucy Crispin

This was one of the three poems that changed the course of my life. That sounds rather dramatic, but it’s true. We “Did” Yeats for A-level and I was blessed with one of those teachers whose capacity to inspire you feel at the time without really realising what’s going on. Without Stevie I don’t know if I would have “got” literature and followed it as student, teacher, writer, throughout my life. So this is a very important poem for me. Here it is: ‘The Wild Swans at Coole‘ by Yeats.*

Tag: beauty