Someone, I can't recall who, posted Wild Geese quite a while ago and I used part of it as a tag. I want more. I'll have to request some Mary Oliver from the library.
Not to steal thunder from Java, but it could have been me as well. "Wild Geese" was one of the things that saved my life last summer. It still can move me to tears. Just the simplicity and gentle reminder in the first line
You do not have to be good
Sigh....
Another favorite is Mary Dorcey:
In Your Shoes
When you were gone
I found a pair of shoes
you had left behind
under the bed.
I put them on, wanting
to know how they felt.
The leather was worn
and intimate,
loose across the instep.
I walked to the window
and then to the door.
My heel slipped free
but the toes pinched.
I wanted to see how
it felt in your shoes --
constrained or easy.
I wanted to see
how it felt to be you --
when you wore them and
walked free of me.
Oooh, thanks for all of the poems! I love well-done poetry.
Katie M - thank you for that poem! I haven't seen it before, but I think I will appropriate it for my college-freshman class I am teaching next semester. This past fall semester was my first class, and that question drove me to distraction. Of course what killed me even more were the students who did not even bother to ask....
Heh. I'm glad you liked it--it makes me smile too.
Stepping away from the poetry here: I bagged a lovely thrift score of books the other day: Drawings of the Masters, in four volumes. My favorite is Flemish & Dutch, 15th to 18th century, because it includes a Rembrandt pencil sketch of a resting lion. The signature is legible. It is so beautiful, I would be using it as an icon if the image tag were allowed here.
I was at Borders tonight and saw a Bunnyzilla collection in the sale area. Jilli knows about this, yes? I figure she must, but thought I'd check.
Wha-ha-ha? Nope, never heard of Bunnyzilla. Bunnicula, yes (Bunnies! Vampire bunnies!), but Bunnyzilla, no.
hmm - now I think I may have miss remembered. It was probably a Bunnicula collection.
"Why Don't You Love Me Like I Love You, You Idiot?"
See, this would be a great poem.
JC, I too loved
Prodigal Summer
until someone pointed out to me how gender-biased it was. Now my love for it is tempered, but I still adore the "everything is connected" super-text to reinforce the ecological stance.
You think? Ok, maybe if I took some of the more anguished sound effects out.
I'm about a quarter of the way into
Fats Food Nation
and it is a much more enjoyable read than I expected. I haven't really read any sociolgy stuff since college (aside from adoption related things) and I'd forgotten how they get my brain spinning and all riled up to go save the world.
Now this is a tender and moving story.
A Puppy Poo forsaken at the corner of an alley. Everyone avoids it saying "Dirty Poo!" One drizzing spring day, Puppy Poo meets a young dandelion plant who needs fertilization. Puppy Poo joyfully breaks itself down and soaks into the root of dandelion. This self-sacrifice finally blooms a dandelion bud into its full glory. A moving and lessonful story illustrated by Sung-gak Chong.
