Tag: calm

poetry, poetry appreciation

different pictures of happiness

Dec 11, 2024 #acceptance, #assumptions, #calm, #Christmas, #fear, #happiness, #hope, #leneliness, #mindfulness, #Minnie Bruce Pratt, #nature, #poem, #poetry, #presence, #satisfaction, #solace, #solitude, #the sound of one fork by Lucy Crispin

It’s that time of year when I start fulminating, inwardly or out loud, about DFS ads and the Family Merrie Christmas Ideal as perpetuated therein. I don’t know why it’s DFS in particular that gets the sharp end of my tongue—everyone’s at it—but there’s just something about those cosily-jumpered families laughing and snuggling on their spanking new sofas which gets my goat. The latest iteration has caused me, as it does every year, to think about families, the different shapes happiness can take, and the difference between loneliness and solitude. I like the way this poem by Minnie Bruce Pratt explores that difference (among other things). Here is ‘The Sound of One Fork‘.

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poetry appreciation

something winter-y

Jan 21, 2022 #calm, #creation, #delightful, #Dylan Thomas, #hennen, #magic, #mysterious, #mystery, #mystical, #oneness, #owl, #peace, #playful, #rabbit, #sheep, #sheep in the winter night, #spirit, #spiritual, #the force that through the green fuse drives the flower, #Thomas, #Tom Hennen, #trees, #unity, #whimsical by Lucy Crispin

This week’s poem is another recent discovery and I’m not sure quite what appeals to me so much about it. But something does. See what you make of Tom Hennen’s charming ‘Sheep in the Winter Night (which Garrison will read for you at 2:38, if you so wish).

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poetry appreciation

the tyranny of shoulds

Mar 11, 2021 #A moment, #acceptance, #appreciate, #Arnold, #calm, #gift, #Howe, #John Keats, #Keats, #Marie Howe, #Matthew Arnold, #moment, #Ode on Melancholy, #ok, #peace, #relief, #self critcism, #self critic, #small pleasures, #still, #stillness, #The Buried Life by Lucy Crispin

I’ve been searching the interweb for a poem called ‘Delivery’ by Marie Howe, and can’t find it anywhere (if anyone has more luck, do please let me know). The search was not wasted, though, because I’ve discovered more of her poetry, and today I’ve got ‘The Moment‘ for you to… well… take a moment (sorry) to read.

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poetry appreciation

the wheel of fortune

Feb 18, 2021 #acceptance, #agency, #ambition, #calm, #chance, #change, #comfort, #connection, #constant, #destiny, #fate, #Fortune, #meaning, #modest, #modesty, #passivity, #peace, #philosophical, #powerlessness, #reflection, #Robert Southall, #soothing, #Southall, #times go by turnes, #wheel of fortune by Lucy Crispin

I just love it when a poem from another time or place “reaches” me: suddenly I’m in relationship with someone from another age or culture, often someone whose bones are long since turned to dust. Ain’t that something? Last week a poetry magazine I read had Robert Southall’s* ‘Times go by Turns‘ printed under the Editorial, and I had just that experience of remote connection: I felt less alone—comforted by being accompanied, by seeing what is common and constant in human experience. See if the poem does it for you, too.

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