Poetry Pantry - # 144

Easter Lily - Wikimedia Commons

Greetings, Poets!   And Happy Easter and Happy Passover to those who celebrate!


This is one of my favorite spaces to post during the poetic week.   I hope you look forward to it too.  Link your ONE poem.  Then visit other poets.  If you never visit other poets, eventually people will pass by your blog as well.  We ALL like comments, so if you link please DO spend time visiting others.  That is part of the fun as well.  We really like it if you link back to Poets United too, so we spread the Poetry Pantry word in the blogosphere.

Come back a few times on Sunday and Monday to see what's new.  Visit some strangers, and they will become new friends!

Also, don't forget to visit Poets United other days of the week.  For example, every Wednesday Kim posts a new "Verse First" prompt.  Hope you will join us there as well!

If you are on Facebook, look for us there as well. Join our site.  It is one more way to stay in touch!

And now...here is the procedure, for those who are new here:  Each Sunday we start a new post with a New Mr. Linky for you. This is so that you can post a link to a poem in your blog. The link will close Monday at 12:00 p.m. (CDT), but you can still visit the links of those who have posted them.

I Wish I'd Written This

Seascape  With Sun and Eagle

By Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Freer
than most birds
an eagle flies up
over San Francisco
freer than most places
soars high up
floats and glides high up
in the still
open spaces

flown from the mountains
floated down
far over ocean
where the sunset has begun
a mirror of itself

He sails high over
turning and turning
where seaplanes might turn
where warplanes might burn

He wheels about burning
in the red sun
climbs and glides
and doubles back upon himself
now over ocean
now over land
high over pinwheels suck in sand
where a rollercoaster used to stand

soaring eagle setting sun
All that is left of our wilderness 

Someone reported on facebook the other day that the amiable beat poet and founder of City Lights bookshop, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, had died at 94. However none of the online encyclopedias seems to have got on to it yet, though they are usually prompt, and I can't find a news report — so I rather doubt it. I did find a report that he had died last year at 93, but this cannot be so, as surely the encyclopedias would have caught up by now. I also saw a strong assertion that he died in 1997 at the age of 78, but I think we can discount that one — his last book of poems was published in 2012. Whatever the facts, he's clearly one of those who lives until he dies.

I was tempted to post his Somewhere During Eternity today, because he is famous as a beat poet and it's in beat language, and because this is Good Friday and the poem is about Jesus and the crucifixion. (On the face of it that poem might seem anti-Christian, but I think it's quite the opposite, albeit ironic.) 

But after all, this above is the Ferlinghetti poem I'd most wish to have written, for its message and its beauty. The setting is San Francisco, and my only experience of that city is a wonderful afternoon between planes in 1998, but its truths would apply anywhere (sadly).

His output is prodigious, and you can find a full bibliography in the Wikipedia article, which is worth reading in full. There are two pages of his books available for purchase at Amazon, and you can read more of his poems here. You'll see that his work, whilst having a recognisable voice, is versatile in style.

Did I mention that he's my favourite beat poet, Ginsberg notwithstanding? (Well, sometimes I think Corso was my favourite instead. But that's another story and perhaps another post.) I never met Mr Ferlinghetti, nor had any communication with him — so how can I describe him as amiable? That's an impression I've formed from reading what others say about him. He seems to be a thoroughly nice bloke. There is no doubt he has done a lot in his long life to help other poets and further the cause of poetry, and has lived true to his lights.

Poems and photos used in ‘I Wish I’d Written This’ remain the property of the copyright holders (usually their authors).

Verse First ~ Passion

Welcome to Verse First, where simple notions prompt amazing poems.

Today's notion?

PASSION

Long ago, passion was used almost exclusively to imply suffering. This usage continues today as observant Christians are keenly aware of The Passion, or suffering, of Christ between the night of the Last Supper and his death. Over time, however, usage of the word changed. It now has multiple meanings and applications.

Passion can be an intense, driving feeling or conviction. Artists often speak of a passion for their work; and social activists use the same term to describe their involvements. The word is also used to describe the object of these deeply felt emotions.

Passion can be an outbreak of anger or an ardent affection. To some, passion means lust; to others, love.

Philosophers and writers have addressed the topic of passion for centuries:

Honore de Balzac (1799-1850) said, "Passion is universal humanity. Without it religion, history, romance and art would be useless."

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) ~ "With me poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion."

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1841-1935) ~"I think that, as life is action and passion, it is required of a man that he should share the passion and action of his time at peril of being judged not to have lived." 

T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) ~"It is obvious that we can no more explain a passion to a person who has never experienced it than we can explain light to the blind."

What is your passion?

What does the word mean to you?

If you're not yet inspired, here is an image from a garden I left, but still love:

Now, poet-friends, I invite you to write with passion, about passion. And then share it with the world. Post your work on your website, then use Mr. Linky to share it with us. Feel free to leave a comment below, and please support your fellow poets by visiting and commenting. 

Can't wait to read some amazing poems! ~ Kim

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Poem of the Week ~ Dancing Broken

Kids, this week a poem by Jennifer Wagner at Poet Laundry just whapped me upside the head with its compassionate understanding of the struggle so many have with the pain of addiction.

Jennifer and her family live in the Pacific North-West, where Jennifer writes, takes care of  her "hero-husband and wonderful family." Here is her very moving work, this week's Poem of the Week: 

                        There Go I, Dancing Broken                            

Poetry Pantry #143

Wikimedia Commons

The Poetry Pantry

2nd Chance Poems or 1st time shares

Greetings, Poets!  


 I am looking forward to seeing what each of you is sharing in the Pantry  today!  Something old or something new! I love to see your familiar faces here and also love to see new faces.  It saddens me when I see link droppers who don't leave a comment saying hello and don't comment on other people's poems even if others comment on theirs.  Please, if you share a poem here, be reciprocal.  Reciprocity IS a two-way street.

This is one of my favorite spaces to post during the poetic week.   I hope you look forward to it too.  Link your ONE poem.  Then visit other poets. That is part of the fun as well.  We really like it if you link back to Poets United too (yes, we like to be mentioned in your post), so we spread the Poetry Pantry word in the blogosphere.

Come back a few times on Sunday and Monday to see what's new.  Visit some strangers, and they will become new friends! If someone you don't know visits you, be sure to visit them as well.

Also, don't forget to visit Poets United other days of the week.  For example, every Wednesday Kim posts a new "Verse First" prompt.  Hope you will join us there as well!  We are very heartened by participation at "Verse First."

If you are on Facebook, look for us there as well. Join our site.  It is one more way to stay in touch!

And now...here is the procedure, for those who are new here:  Each Sunday we start a new post with a New Mr. Linky for you. This is so that you can post a link to a poem in your blog. The link will close Monday at 12:00 p.m. (CDT), but you can still visit the links of those who have posted them.

There are 3 simple rules:

1. Link only 1 poem per week.  If you link more than one, anything after #1 will be removed.

2. Please visit several other poems linked here when you link to yours. Please
don't just link and run, waiting for others to visit you. 

3. Leave a comment after you have posted
your link.  I find that people who leave comments tend to be more participatory.  They wish to be part of the community.  A little of this goes a long way.  It feels good for all.

Classic Poetry ~ "Memory " by Anne Brontë

 Anne Brontë, 1820-1849

Anne Brontë, the youngest of the three sisters featured here, was also both novelist and poet. She lived most of her life with her family, leaving her hometown for two years of boarding school followed by 6 years as a governess. When she was 25 she returned home to focus on writing. After producing a volume of poetry in collaboration with Charlotte and Emily, she quickly wrote two novels, Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Unlike her more famous sisters, Anne eschewed romantics and wrote in a realistic, often ironic, style. She died at the age of 29.

Memory

Brightly the sun of summer shone,
Green fields and waving woods upon,
And soft winds wandered by;
Above, a sky of purest blue,
Around, bright flowers of loveliest hue,
Allured the gazer's eye.
But what were all these charms to me,
When one sweet breath of memory
Came gently wafting by?
I closed my eyes against the day,
And called my willing soul away,
From earth, and air, and sky;

That I might simply fancy there
One little flower -- a primrose fair,
Just opening into sight;
As in the days of infancy,
An opening primrose seemed to me
A source of strange delight.

Sweet Memory! ever smile on me;
Nature's chief beauties spring from thee,
Oh, still thy tribute bring!
Still make the golden crocus shine
Among the flowers the most divine,
The glory of the spring.

Still in the wall-flower's fragrance dwell;
And hover round the slight blue bell,
My childhood's darling flower.
Smile on the little daisy still,
The buttercup's bright goblet fill
With all thy former power.

For ever hang thy dreamy spell
Round mountain star and heather bell,
And do not pass away
From sparkling frost, or wreathed snow,
And whisper when the wild winds blow,
Or rippling waters play.

Is childhood, then, so all divine?
Or Memory, is the glory thine,
That haloes thus the past?
Not all divine; its pangs of grief,
(Although, perchance, their stay be brief,)
Are bitter while they last.

Nor is the glory all thine own,
For on our earliest joys alone
That holy light is cast.
With such a ray, no spell of thine
Can make our later pleasures shine,
Though long ago they passed.

Acton 

I Wish I'd Written This

Evening News: This is How to Kill a Polar Bear 
 By Kelvin S. Mangundayao 

first: 
 perform the 'Human' acts, twenty-four/seven;
 skyrocket excess emitted pleasure;
 then settle down, turn on the TV, and
 watch, watch, watch
 a white-fur-coated skin
 (poor image of an Arctic king)
 trying to survive on the melting ice floes.

lastly: 
 do 'nothing.'

Powerfully succinct, don't you agree? And unpredictable, which I always like. Yet, when I finished reading it, there seemed no other way to say it.

I think it's good to use our poetry for this kind of commentary. Does it — can it —have any real effect? Perhaps we can't know. If it makes even one person think, that might be sufficient reason for doing it. What we can know is that keeping silent on such issues is guaranteed to make no difference. Luckily this poet is not likely to keep silent on any subject that engages him!

I encountered Kelvin (who blogs as Kelvin S.M. because he feels his surname is long and not easy to remember) at dVerse Poets Pub, a community somewhat like Poets United, where he is a staff writer contributing a regular segment on 'Poetics'. A new poet who has only been writing a few years, Kelvin is also an artist, whose artworks have been used as inspirations for his fellow participants at dVerse. Do have a read of the poetry at his blog. When he's not being an activist in verse, Kelvin is often writing highly romantic poems — and don't we all love a bit of romance? However he has many subjects, and is adventurous enough to try all sorts of forms and approaches.

Kelvin lives in the Philippines and is writing his poems in English. I think this is both brave, as it is not his first language, and intelligent, in terms of finding a wide readership.  He says:

I used to run an old poetry blog under the pen name: 'Window Lad' which is now defunct. The 4-year-old blog was deleted due to lost of inspiration to write and some other personal conflicts that normally comes to life. For more than half a year i didn't write anything nor engage myself in any online activities and it was only late November last year when I decided to make a come back and, yes, with a new poetry blog hoping to sink my feet back on the ground but this time deeper, i think. I have never been published (though it's ok since i'm only 21 and still will have to come a long way before getting into 'publishing' thing..hehe..) but has already started making submissions of some of works both in local & foreign publishing co... 

 I expect we'll be hearing a lot more of him in future.

Verse First ~ Reaction

Welcome to Verse First, where simple notions prompt amazing poems.

Today's notion?

REACTION

Consider the term from a variety of scientific perspectives:

Botanists recognize the greening of plants and development of foliage as the photodynamic reaction in the first stage of photosynthesis. The plants are converting energy they glean from the sun.

A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the transformation of one set of chemical substances to another.

In medicine, an adverse drug reaction describes harm associated with the use of medications at a normal dosage during normal use.

Psychologists and philosophers consider emotion to be the generic term for subjective, conscious experience, characterized  by psychophysiological, biological and mental reactions to stimuli.

And of course, we recall Newton's third laws of motion, which states that every action is accompanied by an equal but opposite reaction.

If that's all too technical for you, or if you simply prefer a visual prompt, here's an unidentified image:

Photo by Kim Nelson

Now, go with your gut reaction and create a poem! Post your work on your website, then use Mr. Linky to share it with us. Feel free to leave a comment below, and be sure to support your fellow poets by visiting and commenting. 

Looking forward to reading some amazing poems! ~ Kim

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Poem of the Week~Do You Read Me?

Kids, I believe you know what this blogosphere means to me. Isn't it  wonderful - amazing, really - to have friends from all over the globe stop by our blogs, leave kind comments, share the poetic journey we all are on? This week, Nene, at Life Whispers, wrote a poem that beautifully describes this sharing. His wonderful poem "Do You Read Me?" is this week's Poem of the Week.

Poetry Pantry # 142

Leprechaun - Wikimedia Commons

The Poetry Pantry

2nd Chance Poems or 1st time shares

Greetings, Poets!  

I hope you all had a good writing week.  Isn't it nice that spring is on the horizon (here in the Northern Hemisphere). Daylight Saving Time is starting here in the U.S.  Days are getting longer.  Some of you may celebrated St. Patrick's Day.....whether you are Irish or not! My favorite St. Patrick's Day was spent in Sydney, Australia.  It really seems to be a worldwide phenomena. 

 I am looking forward to seeing what each of you is sharing in the Pantry  today!  Something old or something new! I love to see your familiar faces here and also love to see new faces. 

This is one of my favorite spaces to post during the poetic week.   I hope you look forward to it too.  Link your ONE poem.  Then visit other poets. That is part of the fun as well.  We really like it if you link back to Poets United too, so we spread the Poetry Pantry word in the blogosphere.

Come back a few times on Sunday and Monday to see what's new.  Visit some strangers, and they will become new friends!

Also, don't forget to visit Poets United other days of the week.  For example, every Wednesday Kim posts a new "Verse First" prompt.  Hope you will join us there as well!

If you are on Facebook, look for us there as well. Join our site.  It is one more way to stay in touch!

And now...here is the procedure, for those who are new here:  Each Sunday we start a new post with a New Mr. Linky for you. This is so that you can post a link to a poem in your blog. The link will close Monday at 12:00 p.m. (CDT), but you can still visit the links of those who have posted them.

There are 3 simple rules:

1. Link only 1 poem per week.  If you link more than one, anything after #1 will be removed.

2. Please visit several other poems linked here when you link to yours. Please
don't just link and run, waiting for others to visit you. 

3. Leave a comment after you have posted
your link.  I find that people who leave comments tend to be more participatory.  They wish to be part of the community.  A little of this goes a long way.  It feels good for all.

I Wish I'd Written This

Moment

by Elizabeth Cunningham

This moment is all we have.
Someone told me that, but—

What is a moment?
When is it?
What is it made of?
How can you separate one
from another?

I am wondering
as I sit by the river
in a high, hot wind
that blows the river north
against the current.
I am wondering
as I smell the scent
the river leaves on the rocks.
I am wondering
as I look for patterns
in the grain of the driftwood
next to me.

Don't we have memories
that change meaning with the wheeling light?
Don't we have visions that draw us on
dark as a speck of bird in the shifting clouds?

If there is only this moment
where would the river be
the river's rise
the sea?

From Wild Mercy: Tarot Inspired Poetry. Cottage Grove WI, Creatrix Resource Library, © 2007.


I realise I was remiss last week and should of course have chosen a woman poet to celebrate International Women's Day. However I have a wonderful woman poet for you this week. As this was set up ahead of time, the poem I've selected is not specifically feminist, but universal.

I like it because I get impatient with mindless parrotting of New Age notions, turning them into slogans and sound-bytes. (Yes, I do it too, but at least when I share things on facebook that sound good, I will add some comment suggesting they are food for thought rather than infallible pronouncements.) The idea that this moment is all we have is profound, but is probably meant to encourage reflection and lead to deep insights rather than to be trotted out glibly or serve as an excuse for self-indulgence.

This poem raises thoughtful questions which reclaim the validity of our experience and its continuity, and respect the patterns and progressions of the natural world. The language is simple and serious, and cuts deep. With great economy and lack of fanfare, Cunningham brings her environment to life, full of sensual detail.

The questions are rhetorical, and the implied conclusions certainly compel my agreement!

As a professional Tarot reader and teacher, it's not surprising I'd like the book this poem comes from. But the poems — obviously— are not descriptions of the cards but musings inspired by the energies they represent. They are grouped according to some of the Major Arcana cards, but not all of them, and not in Tarot order. She takes us on her own journey through the archetypes. The piece above is associated with the Judgment card, which is the last section in the book. Every poem in the book is a treasure, and I'd like to have written them all.

The link on her name, above, takes you to the About page of her website. The Home page lists her as Author, Poet, Musician, Counsellor. She is probably best known for a series of novels called The Maeve Chronicles. All her books may be found on her website, including another volume of poetry, Small Bird, which is now on my must-get list. You can also find several very interesting articles about her writing. And there are more poems!


Poem and photo are subject to copyright and are used with Ms Cunningham's permission.

Verse First ~ Women!

Welcome to Verse First, where simple notions prompt amazing poems.

Today's notion?

WOMEN

Yep. Women. 

March is Women's History Month in Australia, The United Kingdom and The United States. Since 1909, March 8 has been recognized as International Women's Day, originally called International Working Women's Day.

The UN theme for International Women's Day 2013 is "A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women;” while the official International Women's Day 2013 committee has declared the year's theme as The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum.

So, please, click on some of the above links if you need further inspiration and write a poem about women. Post your work on your website, then use Mr. Linky to share it with us. Feel free to leave a comment below, and be sure to support your fellow poets by visiting and commenting. 

Looking forward to reading some amazing poems! ~ Kim

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Life of a Poet~Uneven Steven

Today we are visiting a poet you likely all know well, who writes at uneven steven. Steve lives in Illinois, USA, with his fiancee, a brand new puppy and a very disgruntled resident cat. I especially love Steven's poems written to his daughter. They are very tender. 

Poets United: Thanks, Steve, for agreeing to this interview. I have wondered, why the name Uneven Steven?

Steve and his daughter

Poetry Pantry #141

Wikimedia Commons - St. Patrick's Day Parade in Montreal

 

The Poetry Pantry

2nd Chance Poems or 1st time shares

Greetings, Poets!  

I hope you all had a good writing week.  Daylight Saving Time is starting here in the U.S.  Days are getting longer, and spring will 'officially' arrive this month!  After we get through St. Patrick's Day, of course. I just read that the largest St. Patrick's Day parade in the world is in New York City. My city here had their St. Patrick's Day parade today; but I am sure people will be celebrating both tonight and next weekend. 

 I am looking forward to seeing what each of you is sharing in the Pantry  today!  Something old or something new! I love to see your familiar faces here and also love to see new faces. 

This is one of my favorite spaces to post during the poetic week.   I hope you look forward to it too.  Link your ONE poem.  Then visit other poets. That is part of the fun as well.  We really like it if you link back to Poets United too, so we spread the Poetry Pantry word in the blogosphere.

Come back a few times on Sunday and Monday to see what's new.  Visit some strangers, and they will become new friends!

Also, don't forget to visit Poets United other days of the week.  For example, every Wednesday Kim posts a new "Verse First" prompt.  Hope you will join us there as well!

If you are on Facebook, look for us there as well. Join our site.  It is one more way to stay in touch!

And now...here is the procedure, for those who are new here:  Each Sunday we start a new post with a New Mr. Linky for you. This is so that you can post a link to a poem in your blog. The link will close Monday at 12:00 p.m. (CDT), but you can still visit the links of those who have posted them.

There are 3 simple rules:

1. Link only 1 poem per week.  If you link more than one, anything after #1 will be removed.

2. Please visit several other poems linked here when you link to yours. Please
don't just link and run, waiting for others to visit you. 
 

3. Leave a comment after you have posted
your link.  I find that people who leave comments tend to be more participatory.  They wish to be part of the community.  A little of this goes a long way.  It feels good for all.

I Wish I'd Written This

The Thought-Fox

By Ted Hughes (1930-1998)

I imagine this midnight moment's forest:
Something else is alive
Beside the clock's loneliness
And this blank page where my fingers move.

Through the window I see no star:
Something more near
Though deeper within darkness
Is entering the loneliness:

Cold, delicately as the dark snow
A fox's nose touches twig, leaf;
Two eyes serve a movement, that now
And again now, and now, and now

Sets neat prints into the snow
Between trees, and warily a lame
Shadow lags by stump and in hollow
Of a body that is bold to come

Across clearings, an eye,
A widening deepening greenness,
Brilliantly, concentratedly,
Coming about its own business

Till, with a sudden sharp hot stink of fox
It enters the dark hole of the head.
The window is starless still; the clock ticks,
The page is printed.

Ted Hughes was a prolific poet, considered a major English poet of his era, and was the British poet laureate from 1984 until his death. He also wrote prose (both fiction and non-fiction) plays, books for children, and translations. I like his nature poems best — but this, which I like best of all, has a touch of mystery and even mysticism taking it beyond a straightforward nature poem. On one level it describes a psychological state, but is something more than that too. In his book Poetry in the Making, the transcript of a series of poetry programs on radio which he did for schools, Hughes recounts having had several years of writer's block when suddenly this poem appeared from nowhere ... as the poem itself describes.

He became a controversial figure after the suicide of his wife Sylvia Plath, from whom he was separated at the time. Many of Path's admirers blamed him for her death. I am an admirer of Plath, and one of the numbers who think her incandescent poetry outshone her husband's — however I think that assigning him the entire blame for her suicide is an over-simplification which does little justice to either of them. In fact we have him to thank, as her literary executor, for ensuring the posthumous publication of her work, most of which would otherwise have remained unknown. He himself kept a dignified silence on the subject until the publication of The Birthday Letters, his poems about their relationship, shortly before his death from cancer, at a time when he must have known he was dying and evidently wanted to make public his side of the story at last. Many of the poems describe through his eyes incidents which Plath's poetry also described from a  different point of view. Being as immersed as anyone in the whole Plath mythology, it's impossible for me to know if The Birthday Letters could speak to any reader who didn't know the tragic story behind them. 

But 'The Thought-Fox', which may be his most famous poem, can stand alone — beautifully.

You can find more of Hughes's poetry at PoemHunter.com  and there are six pages of his books at Amazon. He was also a keen environmentalist, as detailed in this article.

Poems and photos used in ‘I Wish I’d Written This’ remain the property of the copyright holders (usually their authors).

Verse First ~ The Cure

Welcome to Verse First, where simple notions prompt amazing poems.

Today's notion?

THE CURE

I initially chose this topic after reading this NY Times article detailing the case of a child born HIV positive who's been declared cured. Not in remission. CURED! He is healthy. He is well. He is whole.

After reading the article, these words sang through mind: I Am Whole Again.

And here's the irony: These are lyrics from Lovesong, which was written, performed and released back in 1989 by (are you ready for this?) The Cure!

Then I really let my mind rock and roll and wondered what I would, if I could, cure. What would you put your energy into? For now, how about a poem? THE CURE. Ponder it. Work it. Write it.

Post your work on your website, then use Mr. Linky to share it with us. Feel free to leave a comment below, and be sure to support your fellow poets by visiting and commenting. 

Although I will be on airplanes for the bulk of the day, I look forward to reading some amazing poems as soon as I settle in and find an internet connection! ~ Kim

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Poem of the Week~All At Once

Amy Barlow Liberatore, who writes at Sharp Little Pencil, wrote a wonderfully poignant poem this past week about her childhood. Amy says her mom was a lot of fun, and that she and Amy's grandma are "why I'm the sharp little pencil I am today". 

On her blog, Amy writes: 
"Wage peace. 
Sow love. 
Always stand up for the disenfranchised.
Never run out of words." 

And, luckily for us, Amy never runs out!


ALL AT ONCE

She drank to forget
But when she drank
she remembered
as though reading from
a volume of Dickens,
reciting a poem
by Gwendolyn Brooks,
exhaling a road song
by Woodie Guthrie
Slowly, no rampage,
these ramblings; recalled
in a trance of romance and
morbid, mothballed memory

all at once

Cloistered as she and I were
in our clapboard ranch house
To me, she was home
To her, this house,
this home meant a range,
a fridge, a freezer,
a coffee pot, a yard
a car, and especially
a bathroom that locked

all at once

“Back then,” as it always
started, these old stories,
“back then” was a
cumbersome load
carried by a little girl
whose mother would
disappear mysteriously
in the middle of the night
and come back weeks later
haggard but much calmer
after being committed

all at once

She told me of
late-night runs from
the landlord and the
perils of being the
only girl with an
absent mother and
a drunken father
and a brother who was
sent off to Auntie Ruth’s
All this turmoil
milling through her mind
In a gaze hazy with
absolute truth

all at once

She confessed it all
I was her eight-year-old
confidante, her committed,
codependent kid and I
maintained that role
until she died. It’s hard
being all things
to one person

all at once

© 2013 Amy Barlow Liberatore/Sharp Little Pencil

Thank you, Amy for another wonderful write. And for your long-time loyalty to Poets United. We love you!

Poetry Pantry # 140

Swimming Malayan Tiger in Dortmund Zoological Garden
Wikimedia Commons

 

The Poetry Pantry

2nd Chance Poems or 1st time shares

Greetings, Poets!  

I hope you all had a good writing week.  I had thought spring was on the horizon, but last week we had a 12-inch snowfall here; so I guess not.  Sigh.  But at least the days ARE getting longer, and spring will 'officially' arrive this month!  After we get through St. Patrick's Day, of course. 

 I am looking forward to seeing what each of you is sharing in the Pantry  today!  Something old or something new! I love to see your familiar faces here and also love to see new faces. 

This is one of my favorite spaces to post during the poetic week.   I hope you look forward to it too.  Link your ONE poem.  Then visit other poets. That is part of the fun as well.  We really like it if you link back to Poets United too, so we spread the Poetry Pantry word in the blogosphere.

Come back a few times on Sunday and Monday to see what's new.  Visit some strangers, and they will become new friends!

Also, don't forget to visit Poets United other days of the week.  For example, every Wednesday Kim posts a new "Verse First" prompt.  Hope you will join us there as well!

If you are on Facebook, look for us there as well. Join our site.  It is one more way to stay in touch!

And now...here is the procedure, for those who are new here:  Each Sunday we start a new post with a New Mr. Linky for you. This is so that you can post a link to a poem in your blog. The link will close Monday at 12:00 p.m. (CDT), but you can still visit the links of those who have posted them.

There are 3 simple rules:

1. Link only 1 poem per week.  If you link more than one, anything after #1 will be removed.

2. Please visit several other poems linked here when you link to yours. Please
don't just link and run, waiting for others to visit you. 
 

3. Leave a comment after you have posted
your link.  I find that people who leave comments tend to be more participatory.  They wish to be part of the community.  A little of this goes a long way.  It feels good for all.

I Wish I'd Written This

... and created it visually and audibly too. It's beautiful. And it's many other things, including poetry.

So, for something a little different this time, click here!

Apologies to those who've already seen this on facebook or elsewhere — but if so, you'll know it's worth sharing as widely as possible. In fact, it's a must. And wait, there's more!

The author, Canadian Shane Koyczan, has a website, a facebook fan page, and you can find more of his poems here and here. For other details about Shane, check his Wikipedia entry.

And when you're on his website, don't miss listening to the track, 'Remember How We Forgot' — top right, just under  the picture/link for the album it's from, Remembrance Year.  But be warned, once you've heard it, you'll want to buy the album. The chances are very good that, like me, you'll be going, 'I'm in love with this man!'