“This is the world I want to live in”: Poetry Links

The other day I asked my Twitter friends for poetry recommendations, and in the conversation that followed I was reminded of how much I appreciate being in touch with such knowledgeable, generous people. I love my online bookish circle: between you you’ve read everything, and you’re very good at coming up with suggestions that are perfect for my taste, interests and sensibility.
That conversation was a gift, so in return I wanted to share a collection of poems I love and which are available online. I’ve been reading more poetry this year, for no particular reason other than that I’ve been remembering to. The links that follow are to old favourites as well as to more recent discoveries, and the one thing they have in common is that they make me feel something.
That conversation was a gift, so in return I wanted to share a collection of poems I love and which are available online. I’ve been reading more poetry this year, for no particular reason other than that I’ve been remembering to. The links that follow are to old favourites as well as to more recent discoveries, and the one thing they have in common is that they make me feel something.
- “Gate A-4” by Naomi Shihab Nye: This can still happen anywhere. Not everything is lost.
- “Splittings” by Adrienne Rich: I believe I am choosing something new / not to suffer uselessly yet still to feel
- “Blackie in Antarctica” by Margaret Atwood: Death / is, though. Ridiculous. And coming to you. / For us too.
- “June 78” by Karen Brodine: what if we knew the powers of this country / moved to provide for us and for all people— / how would that be—how would we feel and think / and what would we create?
- “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver: Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. / Meanwhile the world goes on.
- “Beyond Harm” by Sharon Olds: From then on, I had / that word to lose
- “Democracy” by Langston Hughes: I tire so of hearing people say, / Let things take their course. / Tomorrow is another day. / I do not need my freedom when I’m dead. / I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread.
- “Try to Praise the Mutilated World” by Adam Zagajewski: Remember June’s long days, / and wild strawberries, drops of rosé wine. / The nettles that methodically overgrow / the abandoned homesteads of exiles.
- “We Alone” by Alice Walker: This could be our revolution: / to love what is plentiful / as much as / what’s scarce.
- “The Mower” by Philip Larkin: [W]e should be careful / Of each other, we should be kind / While there is still time.
- “Twenty-One Love Poems: IV” by Adrienne Rich: and they still control the world, and you are not in my arms.
- “Of the Terrible Doubt of Appearances” by Walt Whitman: To me these and the like of these are curiously answer’d by my lovers, my dear friends, / When he whom I love travels with me or sits a long while holding me by the hand
one of the poems that I've loved for more than ten years now: http://www.onbeing.org/program/david-whyte-the-conversational-nature-of-reality/extra/everything-is-waiting-for-you/8559
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing! It's so full of hope.
DeleteAh! there are many that I hold dear- I have a little booklet I keep of my favorites- but not sure if I can find any online. I will look, to share w/you.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Do let me know if you find any!
DeleteI have a pinterest board: https://www.pinterest.com/corvus/poetry/
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'm so looking forward to exploring it!
DeleteJane Kenyon is one of my favorite poets. Some of her poetry is very sad, about her struggles with depression, but I do love Let Evening Come, which I find beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing it. I read some of her others and liked them a lot too, especially "After An Illness, Walking the Dog".
DeleteLately while I have been reading novels written by men, I have been on the look out for ways they try to understand/figure out women. An enjoyable exercise. The poetry I am reading these days is a collection of W B Yeats poems and when he is not being political he is being sad about love and women. But I have found wisdom there as well.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a long time since I read him, but I remember that too.
DeleteAnother Jane Kenyon here, Otherwise. My husband and I both love this so much we have a framed broadsheet of it on the wall in the dining room.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing! I like that a lot.
DeleteI hope it's not too late to comment here, but I absolutely have to put in a word for some of my favourite poems (besides those which have already been mentioned here). I love 'Nine Things About Oracles' by Jo Walton, and 'The Man With Many Pens' by Jonathan Wells. But my favourite poem of all time is 'Homing Pigeon' by Mahmoud Darwish (which unfortunately I can only find translated at a post on Yahoo Answers), which is just gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteI also love a lot of the Middle Irish poetry that I studied for my PhD, but it's hard to find it online. I should post some translations at some point.
It's never too late! Thank you so much for sharing - the three you link to here are beautiful, and I would definitely love to read some Middle Irish poetry translations if you posted them.
DeleteThanks for sharing this list!
ReplyDeleteI love Philip Larkin so much. The Mower was a good poem for me to reread today, the day of a funeral of someone I knew only slightly but worked with.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorites by him at this time of year, at least where I live, is "Mother, Summer, I": https://allpoetry.com/Mother,-Summer,-I
I love Philip Larkin so much. The Mower was a good poem for me to reread today, the day of a funeral of someone I knew only slightly but worked with.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorites by him at this time of year, at least where I live, is "Mother, Summer, I": https://allpoetry.com/Mother,-Summer,-I
I am so late here, but also so glad that I decided to stop by this afternoon. I LOVE that first poem you linked to, Gate A-4. How lovely. That is the world I want to live in, too. The shared world. <3
ReplyDeleteI have started to follow some poets on Instagram. A lot are a little too emo for me, but I think you might enjoy blackout poetry.
Ohhh Mary Oliver! Sigh...I recommend the work of Wendell Berry too. At the moment though I am very drawn to Rupi Kaur, Nayyirah Waheed and Warsan Shire - three inspirational women.
ReplyDeleteI hope you are well! xx
I saved this post to come back to when I could, and I'm so glad I came to it today. I've been slowly poking through a collected volume of Mary Oliver's poetry for the second time but haven't gotten to "Wild Geese" yet. And it's almost perfect for the moment I find myself in.
ReplyDelete