The more ridiculously busy I am, the more I find I have to read in order to maintain my equilibrium. So, among other things, I've been reading some Joyce Sutphen. Many of her poems are about lost love. Here are a couple I really liked. They are very personal, and the emotions come through, and yet there's also a universality in them.
Notice
Notice how you show up here and there among
The words I use, that there are small details
that only you would notice, especially when you
notice that I am saying things that I never
said before. And see how easy it is to hear
them now that I am not speaking directly
to you.
Not for Burning
I come across your old letters,
the words still clinging to the page,
holding onto their places patiently,
with no intention of abandoning
the white spaces. They say
that you will always love me,
and reading them again, I almost
believe it... (Here's the rest.)
Tabatha has today's Poetry Friday roundup.
Michelle Kogan shared my Poetry Swap offering and responded with a poem of her own.
12 comments:
These are very interesting poems, Ruth. I have never read anything by this poet before. Thanks.
Lost love... sigh. It's a subject I love in poetry, literature... I guess it taps into all our losses, and helps us grieve and remember. Thank you, Ruth! xo
"that it is the heretic that makes the fire" - a line to remember! Thanks for these, Ruth, both to ponder. I also liked "you notice something in the story that doesn't fit" - such a huge turning! Have a lovely weekend!
I was so struck by "Not for Burning" that I had to save it in my poems folder. Those poor pilgrims! (I think there's a poem in you needing to read in order to maintain your equilibrium.)
The last two lines of "Notice" felt so sad to me, Ruth. Both poems seem to be about the speaker's perception versus what the "you" might believe or intend. I'm going to come back and reread them!
Thanks for these, Ruth. I like Joyce Sutphen's work quite a bit. She often writes about life on a farm in MN. No fancy words, but great style...I like this one: https://www.writersalmanac.org/index.html%3Fp=10314.html Thanks for this...Best, K
I like Joyce Sutphen's matter-of-fact, conversational poem, but then there's so many layers there in between… thanks!
Thanks for sharing the poems, Ruth.
the words still clinging to the page,/holding onto their places patiently,/with no intention of abandoning/the white spaces.
I like these lines that share the intent of writing. I find reading and writing a way to calm my hectic days.
You open this post with an observation I've found to be true - the more "ridiculously busy" we are, the more we need the equilibrium found in reading a book - or writing. It's such strangely inverse thing, really, like getting inside of Time and expanding its pockets.
These poems really pull, pleading for deep reflection. "What they thought would always be true"- how that aches, but then owning more guilt than the heretic - wow. I will be returning to these - thank you, Ruth.
I wish I could/would read more the busier I get! I just discovered Liesl Mueller and I want to get back to her poems. Maybe today, after lessons and laundry and cleaning. (sigh)
I love that Not for Burning--thanks for sharing it. I constantly have to remind myself that sometimes time spent that I don't think I have--time on meditating, reading, exercising--pays off in more productivity and a calmer life :>)
thanks for sharing a new poet. I enjoyed reading Michelle's response to your swap.
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