Dear readers,
Welcome to another year of National Poetry Month postings. The hiatus is over. Today felt like the right moment to renew my commitment to sharing verse with all of you. During this incredibly surreal time that’s unfolded around all of us, poetry has been the only literary form I can focus on after tearing my eyes away from the news. Although I can’t visit the library to sleuth for gems as I’ve done in the past decade of posts, I hope you’ll find something that resonates, regardless of whether it’s new or one I’ve shared before. If you’d like to receive the poem in your inbox this month, feel free to subscribe on the right.
I also hope that wherever and whenever you read this, you and your loved ones are doing as well as possible. In an effort to practice distant socializing while we’re all so far apart, perhaps you can share a poem or two with someone this month, starting with this one by the wonderful Gary Snyder (1930-).
“For the Children”
The rising hills, the slopes,
of statistics
lie before us.
The steep climb
of everything, going up,
up, as we all
go down.
In the next century
or the one beyond that,
they say,
are valley, pastures,
we can meet there in peace
if we make it.
To climb these coming crests
one word to you, to
you and your children:
stay together
learn the flowers
go light
[From Turtle Island by Gary Snyder]
live in the layers 