Friday, April 20, 2012

Poetry Friday: Stained Glass Windows


When I visited Chartres Cathedral, our guide told us about a blue pigment that was used during the Middle Ages for stained glass and to which the secret is now lost. Chartres blue is well-known for its clarity and, well, blue-ness.  (You can see it in the photo above.)  I remembered that story about Chartres blue when I wrote this poem almost a year ago. I thought about the poem this week when I was ruminating on people who help me write.

Reader

Writer, you have a single need: a reader.
Someone who can see into your mind
As though your words were stained glass windows.
Someone who can see the whole picture
But also the details:
The red, the green, the yellow
And sometimes, that lost Chartres blue.
Someone who thinks your window
Belongs in a cathedral.
Someone who is willing to use a little Windex
When the windows are smudged.
You don't need to be on the New York Times bestseller list.
You just need one person who pays attention,
Someone who reads with love.

Ruth, from thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com

 Here's today's Poetry Friday roundup.

And don't forget to check out the latest line in the Progressive Poem.  Heidi has given us a wonderful post, explaining her thought processes and introducing her daughter, who sounds like she would get along great with mine.  You can see all of that here.

6 comments:

Diane Mayr said...

I love this! Especially the Windex!

jama said...

I am a single reader and really enjoyed this poem. Interesting about the Chartres blue pigment. :)

Tabatha said...

This is a great poem to share with students -- all writers can savor the worth of one appreciative reader (and value our own role as readers).

Liz Steinglass said...

Love the idea of one precious reader who sees the lost Chartres blue. But maybe through blogging you have more than one?

Linda B said...

Ruth, I've noticed you are the reader on so many sites of Poetry Friday. You are living your poem! This is wonderfully conveyed, that need for someone to read one's lines, to look and look again, just like looking at the blue. I like hearing about that blue, sadly lost. I hadn't heard that before. Thanks!

Janet said...

I love this.