Wonderful post Tara - lots to check out! If you're ever looking for short poems again you might find my newsletter interesting at some point - forgotten poets and poems of the late-1800s and early-1900s, with a focus on brevity and variety of styles and forms. :-)
Tara, what a feast you’ve gathered from your community of poetry lovers—longtime favorites in conversation with new discoveries. “Of, of course!” I thought, with pleasure, time after time. Then I remembered poems I didn’t suggest because someone else surely would. So, no “Macavity” by T.S. Eliot (can’t beat the rollicking meter). No “Happiness” by Jane Kenyon. No “The Layers” by Stanley Kunitz. There truly is no end to this project.
Hooray! What a great list, Tara! Thank you for tagging so many of my recommendations. I wanted to also add that I had written about my daughter and I memorizing Mary Oliver's The Summer Day together. I think you will really like the essay: https://zinagomezliss.substack.com/p/memorization-or-to-know-by-heart
You're right. I love it! I'm impressed that your daughter is willing to go along with it. Big parenting points! 🙌🏼 I was excited to read your post this morning and see that we were on the same wavelength.
So funny you say that bc I was about to write ive forgotten the relationship but the poem lives in me. I think it was also in a woody Allen movie at some point. I love love love it. Nobody not even the rain… the snow descending…
Totally agreed. That last line is amazing. And all the closing, enclosing, and unclosing .... The man was completely intoxicated with language-love-something.
Wow! This is priceless!! I wish there was an “extra special saved” toggle!
What a list. Need to allocate an hour to re reading it! Thank you.
Love this! I can't wait to join you all in reading something.
Hooray! Looking forward to hearing what you choose.
Gosh, I love this so much, Tara!
Wonderful post Tara - lots to check out! If you're ever looking for short poems again you might find my newsletter interesting at some point - forgotten poets and poems of the late-1800s and early-1900s, with a focus on brevity and variety of styles and forms. :-)
Tara, what a feast you’ve gathered from your community of poetry lovers—longtime favorites in conversation with new discoveries. “Of, of course!” I thought, with pleasure, time after time. Then I remembered poems I didn’t suggest because someone else surely would. So, no “Macavity” by T.S. Eliot (can’t beat the rollicking meter). No “Happiness” by Jane Kenyon. No “The Layers” by Stanley Kunitz. There truly is no end to this project.
Here’s one I carry with me:
Ursa Major
I am certainly
no big bear
but in winter
when sky darkens
& earth is bright with snow
my fur grows
thick as a bed of pine needles
my belly fattens
like a yawning moon
ready for cold months
& scarce game
my hands & feet
become sluggish paws
I want to curl
up in my cave to dream
of fish & wait
for spring
This is amazing Tara. Thank you for this great list.
Among my favorites
Are the five, seven, and five
Of haiku poems
The Old Pond” by Matsuo Bashō
"An old silent pond
A frog jumps into the pond—
Splash! Silence again."
This is such a wonderful anthology you've created, Tara. Congratulations!
Thank you for sharing. It has been such a wonderful week reading the suggestions and discovering some Substackers new to me. :-)
I don’t think I see it here (though I may have missed it) but Ithaca by Constantine Cafavy
That's a friend's favorite poem, too. I have her book on loan. :-) Added to a P.S. section above.
Hooray! What a great list, Tara! Thank you for tagging so many of my recommendations. I wanted to also add that I had written about my daughter and I memorizing Mary Oliver's The Summer Day together. I think you will really like the essay: https://zinagomezliss.substack.com/p/memorization-or-to-know-by-heart
You're right. I love it! I'm impressed that your daughter is willing to go along with it. Big parenting points! 🙌🏼 I was excited to read your post this morning and see that we were on the same wavelength.
I think we are kindred spirits. What a joy this weird virtual place has given us. ❤️
Yes! 🎯
somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond - e.e. cummings
It’s one of my favorite poems. A girlfriend. ❤️ 😝
Gosh, that makes me think of a whole other idea for a post: Poems that outlasted their givers. I'll bet we'd get some good ones. :-)
Here’s one in Russian which probably isn’t helping but it’s the only foreign poem to ever hit me in its native language.
Я вас любил...
Александр Пушкин
Я вас любил так искренно, так нежно,
Как дай вам Бог любимой быть другим.
“I loved you so sincerely, so tendered… let god grant that you be loved by others (the same way)
I think you've found your recitation poem! 😂
So funny you say that bc I was about to write ive forgotten the relationship but the poem lives in me. I think it was also in a woody Allen movie at some point. I love love love it. Nobody not even the rain… the snow descending…
This:
(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands
Jesus.
Totally agreed. That last line is amazing. And all the closing, enclosing, and unclosing .... The man was completely intoxicated with language-love-something.
Here's a link for others who don't know it: https://poets.org/poem/somewhere-i-have-never-travelledgladly-beyond
Wow! That's quite a love poem. I've never read it. Thank you for the tip. How did you find it?
This is so marvelous!!! Count me in!
Hooray!