fear – 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.

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couldn’t resist

Jun 9, 2022 #brexit, #despair, #europe, #fear, #grief, #isolationism, #Kathy Jetnil Kijiner, #nationalism, #seawall soliloquy by Lucy Crispin

I know I said I’d only be posting over at what the afternoon knows for the next wee while, but this poem landed in my inbox this week and I loved it so much I couldn’t not pass it on. Check out Kathy Jetnil Kijiner’s ‘Seawall soliloquy number two‘. It needs no gloss from me.

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too much reality

There’s a lot of reality to deal with at the moment. As ever, I’m helped by poetry—and by sharing it; and by the conversations it stimulates. For some reason this poem in particular has been calling me over the last few days. Perhaps ‘The Gate‘ by Marie Howe might be helpful for you too. Let me know.

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come, poor Jackself

Jan 14, 2022 #compassion, #Crews, #despair, #fear, #generosity, #Gerard Manley Hopkins, #Hopkins, #James crews, #kindness, #my own heart let me have more pity on, #self care, #self-compassion by Lucy Crispin

My therapy practice would be a lot less busy if people really knew how right it is to be self-compassionate. So many of us can pay lip service to the notion of “put on your own oxygen mask first” while not truly believing it’s “allowed” or, actually, the long-term more altruistic thing to do (in that it helps you keep in a fit state to support others). So I love this poem—a recent discovery—which expresses that sense of unease about kindness to self. Here’s James Crews’ ‘Self-Compassion‘.

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coming to America, going not so well…

And now, as the Pythons used to say, for something completely different. Yes, it’s another another arrival in America, courtesy of Tracy K Smith, a former Poet Laureate; but it’s very different from last week’s. Read ‘The United States Welcomes you‘ and shiver.

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the dark side

Nov 25, 2021 #bullying, #fear, #greathouse, #hatred, #horrow, #LGBQT, #litany of ordinary violences, #oppression, #prejudice, #torrin a greathouse, #transgender, #transgender day of remembrance, #violence by Lucy Crispin

Next week we’ll have a quietly uplifting poem to remind us of those unexpected moments of connection and shared humanity which can transform our day. Today, however, I offer this disturbing-but-important-to-read poem which offers us a glimpse into a darker side. Here is ‘Litany of Ordinary Violences‘ by torrin a greathouse.

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hallowe’en

Well, if Strictly can have a Hallowe’en special, why can’t this column? I do like Annie Finch’s take on the Celtic Feast of the Dead, ‘Samhain‘. I don’t know that I understand it all intellectually but, as ever with me, that matters less than the feeling with which it leaves me. There’s a shiver, not of fear but something more like awe, of apprehending the vastness of time and our place in a continuum. See how the poem leaves you.

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answering light

May 6, 2021 #ageing, #change, #Child Waking, #commitment, #courage, #death, #Deaths of Flowers, #Edith Scovell, #Edna St VIncent Millay, #fear, #Figs from Thistles, #freedom, #hope, #My candle burns at both ends, #Scovell, #St Vincent Millay by Lucy Crispin

Someone brought ‘Child waking’ by Edith Scovell to the 42 group last week. The poet’s name was vaguely familiar but I had no sense of her work. I loved ‘Child waking’, though, so since then I’ve been scuttling about the interweb looking for Scovell’s work. And I give you: ‘Deaths of Flowers‘.

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if only…

Apr 1, 2021 #bargaining, #blame, #control, #doubt, #fear, #grief, #Jennifer Maier, #Maier, #post hoc, #post hoc ergo propter hoc, #regret, #self-blame, #self-criticism, #the road not taken, #what if by Lucy Crispin

Apologies for radio silence over the last 2 weeks; I’ve not been well. I’m glad to be back, not least because this week’s poem is a relatively new discovery (to me) and I’ve been looking forward to sharing it. Some part of me deeply recognises the states and thoughts described in Jennifer Maier’s ‘Post Hoc‘ by Jennifer Maier. How about you?

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is April really the cruellest month?

Cos this month, though it’s short, does seem to go on rather. I do enjoy the early nightfalls of winter, and the pleasure of being cocooned in the heavier-weight duvet, rejoicing in warmth while all outside is cold. But there comes a point when I don’t want to get up in the dark; when I’m tired of wearing clothes that rustle and having my hood up, slithering in mud on my morning walk. So when I discovered this account of ‘February‘ by Bill Christopherson, it resonated. See what you think.

Tag: fear