☀️ Poetry Pick-Me-Up (09/05/24)

Enjoy this replay of the 09/05/24 Poetry Pick-Me-Up.

Here are materials referenced in the Zoom chat (click on the links to access the items):

• Untitled" [“I live my life in widening circles”] by Rainer Maria Rilke

• “So much is happening within you . . . you must be as patient as an invalid and as confident as a convalescent, for perhaps you are both. And more: you are also the doctor who has to look after yourself. But there are, in every illness, days when the doctor can do little more than wait. And that is what you, as your own physician, must do above all.” —Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet (Barrow/Macy translation)

• “Psalm” by Gail Onion (see below)

How could a day become a psalm?
My friend and I rescued a spider
one of those frail, long legged,
clinging to a spidery web
in the bathtub and now in the garden.
A neighbor returned from a visit
to family in Chile,
delayed for hours, no energy
for shopping. I left a bowl of eggs
by the door and called her.
I listened to friends today, their joys and 
sorrows, through visits on the phone.
I paused by the elderly rose trees,
touched the gnarled bark, knowing 
the heart wood was long gone,
but the heart was in the roses, 
still blooming.
The terrible wars, the dangers
threatening the world,
seemed worse today
and yet,
and yet, here was the world also,
here was the inviolable 
ancient holiness so ordinary,
so vulnerable,
still singing.

• Info about James Crews

• James Crews’s Youtube channel

• “Only Moments Matter” by James Crews (see below)

Only moments matter—not some
distant future or glittering destination.
Not the swollen bank account,
a lake house, or the perfect spouse.
Only this instant spinning toward you
today while you sit on a bench
in the mudroom, taking off your shoes
and watching the lit-up planets
of dust dance in the air, each mote
a moment from your life you hope
to hold onto, all of them now
revolving around you—their sun,
their center, their blazing source.

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What’s Poetry Pick-Me-Up?

PPMU is a casual poetry-sharing and discussion group that happens every non-holiday Thursday, 12-1PM Central. FREE! Join us for our next gathering on September 12th. Just hop on the Zoom at this link. 

Bring a published poem (or excerpt) that you’ve recently read to share with the group. Or, just come to listen and to participate in informal but wholehearted conversation.

Please, no original poetry, as we have other opportunities on The Raft for you to present that.

Can’t make it on Thursdays? Catch the replay in one of these Raft newsletters: Events & News, or Rafter Digest. Manage your subscription preferences here.

Want to watch previous Pick-Me-Ups? Find them in the Catch Up! archive of event replays.