Tag: presence

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

too much reality

Mar 10, 2022 #amazement, #appreciation, #awe, #experience, #fear, #Fortune, #gratitude, #grief, #hope, #Howe, #innocence, #Kennedy, #lucky, #Marie Howe, #presence, #september 12 2001, #The Gate, #wonder, #XJ Kennedy by Lucy Crispin

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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poetry appreciation

remember those emergency lanterns?

Feb 17, 2022 #alchemy, #alive, #amazement, #appreciation, #death, #emergency lantern, #energy, #Eve L Ewing, #Ewing, #existential, #glad, #gladness, #gratitude, #inspire, #inspiring, #joy, #joyful, #Libby Purves, #life, #mindful, #mindfulness, #presence, #Purves, #uplifting, #wonder by Lucy Crispin

The ones Libby Purves referred to when she spoke of how poetry could function? Well, for me this poem, ‘testify‘ by Eve L Ewing, is a great emergency lantern. Does it shine a light for you?

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poetry appreciation

ways to persist

Jan 28, 2022 #acceptance, #Bass, #courage, #despair, #determination, #difficulty, #Ellen Bass, #encourage, #endurance, #grief, #hope, #KBO, #loss, #persistence, #presence, #the thing is, #vulnerability, #weariness, #weary by Lucy Crispin

Lots of us find this time of year difficult at the best of times and, as we have noted before, these are not the best of times. So for the next while I want to share some poems which I find helpful. I would also be delighted to hear from you about poems which support you to carry on. (Drop me an email or comment below and we can have your poem in the column sometime soon.) But for today I want to share Ellen Bass’s ‘The Thing Is‘ which I find breathtakingly honest and stark and beautiful, and which definitely inspires me.

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poetry appreciation
poetry appreciation
poetry appreciation

starting over

Jan 7, 2021 #Aubade, #Dana Gioia, #death, #Gioia, #hope, #human, #Larkin, #mindful, #mindfulness, #mortality, #New Year, #New Year's, #New Year's Eve, #Philip Larkin, #possibility, #potential, #presence, #waste by Lucy Crispin

I’m half Scottish but I’m also half Sassenach, and I’ve never really “got” the whole Hogmanay frenzy. New Year’s Eve has often felt tainted with melancholy for me, in a sub-Larkin ‘Death [is] a whole year nearer now‘ sort of a way. This year, though, when surely most of us are hoping for better things to come, I feel really drawn to this poem, the beautiful ‘New Year’s‘ by Dana Gioia. See what you make of it.

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poetry appreciation

thank you

Oct 22, 2020 #anger, #appreciate, #appreciation, #fear, #Gay, #gratitude, #mindful, #mindfulness, #miracle, #mortality, #ode to the west wind, #Percy Bysshe Shelley, #poem, #poetry, #presence, #present, #Ross Gay, #Shelley, #sorrow, #Thank you by Lucy Crispin

At the moment, the world is offering us lots of reminders that life is short and time’s winged chariot is always hurrying near. It’s easy to get sucked into fear, anger or sorrow about this. They’re all around us (as well as inside us). So I was particularly delighted to discover this poem which suggests a different and beautiful response to intimations of mortality. Here it is: ‘Thank you‘ by Ross Gay. Read it and be refreshed. (You can also hear him read a couple of bits from a recent book here.)

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poetry appreciation

the winged life

Oct 1, 2020 #attention, #Berry, #Blake, #Eternity, #holiday, #mindfulness, #presence, #social media, #The Vacation, #wendell berry, #William Blake by Lucy Crispin

Everything there is to be said about the toxic potential of social media has already have been said somewhere else (probably on social media) so I won’t rehearse it here. And it’s true that the splicing together of commercials for our lives (rather then inhabiting them) isn’t quite what Wendell Berry’s splendid ‘The Vacation‘ is about; but it feels related, somehow. Besides, this was the poem which came to mind while I was away on my holiday. Here it is.

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poetry appreciation

beside the seaside

Sep 13, 2020 #beach, #birds, #grace, #holiday, #Maccaig, #mindfulness, #nature, #Norman MacCaig, #poem, #poetry, #presence, #Rhu Mor, #seaside by Lucy Crispin

I am lucky enough to be retreating from Real Life for a while: a week (ish) away near the Galloway coast in a house where there’s no internet and only a very feeble, intermittent phone signal. So this column will be on holiday along with me, though back as usual in a fortnight’s time. To give you a virtual visit to the sort of place I’ll be, and a vision of the sorts of creatures I hope to be gazing upon, here’s the vivid and wonderful ‘Rhu Mor‘ by Norma MacCaig. (Unfortunately I can’t find this anywhere on the internet with the poet’s own layout on the page, so we’ll have to make do with this. As consolation, you can hear MacCaig himself reading it here.)

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