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Friday, October 19, 2012

A Poem: Joanna Goddard Fall Challenge


Joanna Goddard recently started a series of Fall Challenges, during which she and her readers will do things like read more, watch tv less, and write actual letters.

This week, she suggests that we memorize a favorite poem. What a lovely idea. There was something therapeutic about reciting "The Owl and the Pussy-Cat" day after day in elementary school, and maybe, as a grown up, it would be just as nice. I would welcome having something beautiful in my head to combat daily to-do lists, running on repeat.

Here's mine:


Moon

Open the book of evening to the page
where the moon, always the moon, appears

between two clouds, moving so slowly that hours
will seem to have passed before you reach the next page

where the moon, now brighter, lowers a path
to lead you away from what you have known

into those places where what you had wished for happens,
its lone syllable like a sentence poised

at the edge of sense, waiting for you to say its name
once more as you lift your eyes from the page

and close the book, still feeling what it was like
to dwell in that light, that sudden paradise of sound.


--Mark Strand 




 What about you, what poem would you choose?

Thanks, Joanna, for reminding us to slow down a little bit and remember what's beautiful.

3 comments:

  1. This is lovely! Thank you, Lauren. We have a long history of pairing poems and art at 20x200--it is sublime.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for reading, Jennette! You guys are my favorite. I'm writing about you on Monday as part of a What is Marriage series I just started. I've always loved that print and can't resist. :)

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    2. Wonderful! I'm looking forward to reading it.

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