rereading poetry

In my offtime between quarters of school, I've returned to one of my first loves: poetry. First I picked up Paradise Lost, which I had been meaning to reread for a few years. Then I picked up my old Norton Anthology and started paging through, rereading the poems I'd seen many times before, glancing through new ones, just enjoying the experience. A well-crafted, beautiful, and incisive line seems to me the pinnacle of magic, transformation. I used to leave such lines everywhere that I might read them, or repeat them over and over in my head.

Poetry used to be a harder slog for me, though I've always maintained a relationship with it. Each line, each word seemed so dense and carefully chosen, that I wanted to give my deep, undivided attention to the piece and understand it thoroughly before moving to the next. Which is part of the reason why most long poems (many of Pope's, for example) cause me to glaze over and simply move to the next. The effort of such deep understanding precludes pleasure, at times, rather than enhancing.

In college I took a course with a professor who taught us to see poetry first as music, and to take our initial readings as an opportunity to enjoy the sounds and rhythm. Then, with repeated readings, the deeper layers of meaning may be easier to unfold. That lesson has been liberatory for me, especially now as I live and work outside of a literary culture that would make me want to be able to cite authors verbatim at will.

Which reconnects me with the power of poetry that always calls me back.

Interview at Pagan Writers Community

The Pagan Writers Community is featuring an interview with me. My first!

a prayer

May we listen to each other, then speak, then listen.
May we know our hearts thoroughly that we may receive the wisdom of our peers and loved ones.
May we embrace the plurality of opinions, and engage each other with fierce attention.
May we fight with open hands and vigor, striving for a greater truth.
When the demons of our hearts arise, seeking to punish others for different views, seeking to ostracize the different and unfamiliar, seeking to erect brick walls against the force of an uncomfortable truth, may we hold these urgings with soft hands and still face our enemies with open eyes, open ears, and minds ready for dialogue.
May those who have been marginalized, oppressed, and made invisible be given their rightful place.
May those who have been elevated, privileged, and made grandiose accept their deflation with grace and understanding.
May we enter a time in which understanding and wisdom are valued more than righteousness.
May every voice be given its merit, may every being feel heard and valued.