Aaand it looks like I accidentally hit “publish” instead of “schedule” on Tuesday’s issue of morning person (before copy-editing it, so pardon my typos which will be fixed in the only edition!). I asked above for your poetry recs - but instead it looks like I inadvertently created another opportunity: Tell me about a mistake you’ve made recently so we can all enjoy being human together. And enjoy the surprise early edition of Morning Person! 😬🙃
oh man, mary oliver is absolutely on my list of "dead or alive" dinner guests. what makes her so spectacular is her ability to pay attention, to notice. i feel such a kindred spirit to her. i live on a river and take walks every day and think of her poems so much. i'm also a huge fan of onbeing, and all their spinoff podcasts. this newsletter clearly spoke to me, haha. you may really like ross gay. he has a book called the book of delights. also, on spotify there are recordings of him reading his poems aloud to music composed by bon iver. catalog of unabashed gratitude is a JOURNEY. it makes me laugh and cry and soar. ugh. even now i get teary-eyed.
I love poetry and really enjoyed reading about how you've gotten more into it! I teach poetry and literature to college students, and it's always so exciting to see them find something they really connect with. I tend to enjoy/write hybrid poetry, so I'd recommend Adam Dickinson's Anatomic, which focuses the ways in which our environment affects our bodies. I also enjoyed Nikole Brown's To Those Who Were Our First Gods and Ghost Fishing, which is an eco-poetry anthology (which tend to be the kind of poems I find most engaging).
The way you described finding poetry happened to me too (with only one author and I have yet to recreate the experience). Try Yung Pueblo’s books. I loved Inward and Clarity and Connection.
What a nice surprise, Leslie! I'd say instead of it being a "mistake", it was an opportunity to do something different!
When you wrote about your loneliness, it brought back all my feelings from when I lived alone. This was a long time ago- before cell phones, podcasts- I didn't even have a TV. Back then, it was normal, though. I think it's a great thing to have to work through it and be able to just be with yourself. It seems to me that this is why you are doing this.
I recently had this same realization! I always avoided poetry because I was impatient and couldn't slow down. Then, I listened to Ezra Klein's interview with Ada Limon and my perspective shifted. I'm currently reading Limon's "Bright Dead Things" and I'm loving it!
I recently had this same realization! I always avoided poetry because I was impatient and couldn't slow down. Then, I listened to Ezra Klein's interview with Ada Limon and my perspective shifted. I'm currently reading Limon's "Bright Dead Things" and I'm loving it!
such a beautiful entry! thank you. :) mary is so helpful. i'll offer you one more by her i think you'll enjoy: "to begin with, the sweetgrass" ( https://www.ayearofbeinghere.com/2015/08/mary-oliver-to-begin-with-sweet-grass.html ). for poets, i'd recommend ada limòn (her most recent collection!!), ocean vuong (of course!), maya c. popa, anne carson (classic!) and sheri benning. i tend to find poets i love in the paris review... their quarterly issues are such a balm to my soul whenever they arrive in my mailbox. <3 wishing you well! (oh - and can't wait to read the new maggie o'farrell. hamnet was so so beautiful.)
My husband is a poet, so I'm bias! His last book came out a few years ago: https://bookshop.org/books/chlorosis/9781946031273 and he describes it as a "breakup with the environment." He is more experimental so I should warn you that his work is pretty different than Mary Oliver. His next book comes out in spring 2023!
He also runs a small press through his university (Threadsuns Press at High Point University--only a few books so far since he's just started there) and I definitely recommend checking out some smaller presses too, as there are hidden gems on those that haven't made it to the big bookstores because of small print runs.
I really find myself in this in between stage of life. I’m 31, single, no kids, never been married. Hell, haven’t dated in YEARS. Not yet in my desired field career wise. Point being, my friends are all in different stages of life. Many married with or without kids. Most drink alcohol, I don’t, new in 2022; which, I still haven’t figured out how to navigate peoples reactions to. I miss the old times, and the times I look forward to like living alone (love my roommate), buying a home, complete my bachelors in communications while working full time and not burning out... it all seems insurmountable. But Rupi Kaur’s poem “friendship nostalgia” captures it so well.
Ha, my relationship with poetry and Mary Oliver is so similar and sometimes serendipitous. Randomly bought Devotions from a small book store (it was also the only name I was familiar with), and when I got home and did a little more research on her, I learned I had purchased the book on her birthday.
Later, I had switched from night shift to mornings and started getting up at 4:30am. The first morning was brutal but I knew I wanted that extra hour of quiet time before a long 12 hour shift. I thought I’d begin the day with a poem, but couldn’t decide where to start in Devotions, so I just flipped it open to anything and of course I landed on Why I Wake Early ☺️
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
It has pulled me through many days when I felt unmoored. I hope you enjoy it too.
I, too, have often felt self conscious when picking up poetry collections. These two have long been favorites. We have “This Is Just To Say” hanging on our fridge in summer as a laugh since the plums and peaches are always eaten quickly!
What you're doing reminds me of the act of 'sacred text' suggested in Casper ter Kuile's The Power of Ritual. He started reading Harry Potter with friends through the rules of PARDES. Essentially, what's the simple meaning of the text? What's the implied meaning? What's the text teaching me? And what's the deeper/hidden meaning?
I love the idea of starting and ending the day by reading something as it is, exploring what it could mean, learning something new from it, and identifying how it makes you feel on a deeper, more personal level. I'm going to try this with poetry, something I also struggle with but want to enjoy more.
Aaand it looks like I accidentally hit “publish” instead of “schedule” on Tuesday’s issue of morning person (before copy-editing it, so pardon my typos which will be fixed in the only edition!). I asked above for your poetry recs - but instead it looks like I inadvertently created another opportunity: Tell me about a mistake you’ve made recently so we can all enjoy being human together. And enjoy the surprise early edition of Morning Person! 😬🙃
oh man, mary oliver is absolutely on my list of "dead or alive" dinner guests. what makes her so spectacular is her ability to pay attention, to notice. i feel such a kindred spirit to her. i live on a river and take walks every day and think of her poems so much. i'm also a huge fan of onbeing, and all their spinoff podcasts. this newsletter clearly spoke to me, haha. you may really like ross gay. he has a book called the book of delights. also, on spotify there are recordings of him reading his poems aloud to music composed by bon iver. catalog of unabashed gratitude is a JOURNEY. it makes me laugh and cry and soar. ugh. even now i get teary-eyed.
I really enjoy the work of Robert Frost. I've been reading "August" a couple times a week lately.
I love poetry and really enjoyed reading about how you've gotten more into it! I teach poetry and literature to college students, and it's always so exciting to see them find something they really connect with. I tend to enjoy/write hybrid poetry, so I'd recommend Adam Dickinson's Anatomic, which focuses the ways in which our environment affects our bodies. I also enjoyed Nikole Brown's To Those Who Were Our First Gods and Ghost Fishing, which is an eco-poetry anthology (which tend to be the kind of poems I find most engaging).
The way you described finding poetry happened to me too (with only one author and I have yet to recreate the experience). Try Yung Pueblo’s books. I loved Inward and Clarity and Connection.
What a nice surprise, Leslie! I'd say instead of it being a "mistake", it was an opportunity to do something different!
When you wrote about your loneliness, it brought back all my feelings from when I lived alone. This was a long time ago- before cell phones, podcasts- I didn't even have a TV. Back then, it was normal, though. I think it's a great thing to have to work through it and be able to just be with yourself. It seems to me that this is why you are doing this.
Mahmoud Darwish is amazing. To a Young Poet is a good start.
I recently had this same realization! I always avoided poetry because I was impatient and couldn't slow down. Then, I listened to Ezra Klein's interview with Ada Limon and my perspective shifted. I'm currently reading Limon's "Bright Dead Things" and I'm loving it!
I recently had this same realization! I always avoided poetry because I was impatient and couldn't slow down. Then, I listened to Ezra Klein's interview with Ada Limon and my perspective shifted. I'm currently reading Limon's "Bright Dead Things" and I'm loving it!
such a beautiful entry! thank you. :) mary is so helpful. i'll offer you one more by her i think you'll enjoy: "to begin with, the sweetgrass" ( https://www.ayearofbeinghere.com/2015/08/mary-oliver-to-begin-with-sweet-grass.html ). for poets, i'd recommend ada limòn (her most recent collection!!), ocean vuong (of course!), maya c. popa, anne carson (classic!) and sheri benning. i tend to find poets i love in the paris review... their quarterly issues are such a balm to my soul whenever they arrive in my mailbox. <3 wishing you well! (oh - and can't wait to read the new maggie o'farrell. hamnet was so so beautiful.)
My husband is a poet, so I'm bias! His last book came out a few years ago: https://bookshop.org/books/chlorosis/9781946031273 and he describes it as a "breakup with the environment." He is more experimental so I should warn you that his work is pretty different than Mary Oliver. His next book comes out in spring 2023!
He also runs a small press through his university (Threadsuns Press at High Point University--only a few books so far since he's just started there) and I definitely recommend checking out some smaller presses too, as there are hidden gems on those that haven't made it to the big bookstores because of small print runs.
I really find myself in this in between stage of life. I’m 31, single, no kids, never been married. Hell, haven’t dated in YEARS. Not yet in my desired field career wise. Point being, my friends are all in different stages of life. Many married with or without kids. Most drink alcohol, I don’t, new in 2022; which, I still haven’t figured out how to navigate peoples reactions to. I miss the old times, and the times I look forward to like living alone (love my roommate), buying a home, complete my bachelors in communications while working full time and not burning out... it all seems insurmountable. But Rupi Kaur’s poem “friendship nostalgia” captures it so well.
Ha, my relationship with poetry and Mary Oliver is so similar and sometimes serendipitous. Randomly bought Devotions from a small book store (it was also the only name I was familiar with), and when I got home and did a little more research on her, I learned I had purchased the book on her birthday.
Later, I had switched from night shift to mornings and started getting up at 4:30am. The first morning was brutal but I knew I wanted that extra hour of quiet time before a long 12 hour shift. I thought I’d begin the day with a poem, but couldn’t decide where to start in Devotions, so I just flipped it open to anything and of course I landed on Why I Wake Early ☺️
I’ve always loved this from Rainer Maria Rilke:
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
It has pulled me through many days when I felt unmoored. I hope you enjoy it too.
I, too, have often felt self conscious when picking up poetry collections. These two have long been favorites. We have “This Is Just To Say” hanging on our fridge in summer as a laugh since the plums and peaches are always eaten quickly!
This Is Just To Say
BY WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
Hummingbird
By Raymond Carver (For Tess)
Suppose I say summer,
write the word “hummingbird,”
put it in an envelope,
take it down the hill
to the box. When you open
my letter you will recall
those days and how much,
just how much, I love you.
Thank you for this mistake! I needed it so badly.
What you're doing reminds me of the act of 'sacred text' suggested in Casper ter Kuile's The Power of Ritual. He started reading Harry Potter with friends through the rules of PARDES. Essentially, what's the simple meaning of the text? What's the implied meaning? What's the text teaching me? And what's the deeper/hidden meaning?
I love the idea of starting and ending the day by reading something as it is, exploring what it could mean, learning something new from it, and identifying how it makes you feel on a deeper, more personal level. I'm going to try this with poetry, something I also struggle with but want to enjoy more.
Thanks, as always, Leslie.