The beautiful selection of poems we read touched on themes of hope and the impermanence of power. We talked about the passing of time between friends and tenderness. We were reminded of the importance of being present – even just for now – and how the combination of joga and poetry can help. Our conversation touched on words in a few ways: the quirky inconsistency of the english language; the heart-break of loosing words; and the poet’s role in the world.
We also shared some of our own writing based on last week’s prompt: Words. Thank you to everyone who shared!
A list of the poems we read
I’ve added some links where I could to the poems, poets or books if you would like to explore further.
Cloud Anthem by Richard Blanco, from How to Love a Country
Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Our Strange Lingo by Lord Cromer
Reunion Between Planes by Virginia Hamilton Adair, from Ants on the Melon
Story by Al Purdy, from Beyond Remembering, the Collected Poems of Al Purdy
The Poet by Marina Tsventaeva
Naming by Nancy Mairs from What Have You Lost
Just for Now by Danna Faulds, from Poetry of Presence
Fluent by John O’Donohue, from Poetry of Presence
Poetry writing prompt for next week
Prompt: “Time”
We actually forgot to generate a prompt as a group, so I’m putting forward the idea of writing anything that comes to mind around the idea of time. This prompt is for writing only, the poems we bring for reading and discussing can be around any theme.