Many of the poems we read this week, Finding Your Way, seemed to share a thread with our previous week’s theme of Ancestors. Ana Akhmatova led us down the diverging river of her life, and Virginia Hamilton Adair led us on an expedition searching for ancestors guided By Old Maps. Sheenagh Pugh gave us with hope in her poem Sometimes, and also celebrated the merits of travelling a road to an unknown future. Anne-Marie Fyfe meditated on the life and path of a wave through time and creation and Diane DiPrima’s poem Revolutionary Letter 1 reminded us that when it comes finding our way through the game of life – we are all in.
Thank you to those brave and generous friends who shared their own writing today!
We discussed next week’s theme: “Time Capsules”. Bring along poems to read, and if you feel inspired, write a poem based on that prompt.
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.
By Old Maps by Virginia Hamilton Adair from Ants on the Melon
This Cruel Age Has Deflected Me by Ana Akhmatova
Sometimes and What If This Road by Sheenagh Pugh
A Short History of Wave Motion by Anne-Marie Fyfe from No Far Shore
Revolutionary Letter 1 by Diane DiPrima from Revolutionary Letters
How Will This Pandemic Effect Poetry? by Julia Alvarez from Together in a Sudden Strangeness: America’s Poets Respond to the Pandemic
Poetry reading & writing prompt for next week
Prompt/Theme: “Time Capsules”
When we meet again on December 14th, bring along poems around the theme of Time Capsules. There is no obligation to write, but if you feel inspired, you are welcome to bring your poem to share at the next gathering.