as James noticed how “our grief gave off a slight glimmer”
Jess held your hands with “the dirt of your motherland
unapologetic beneath your nails,” and when you didn’t
know what to do next, Cathryn said
“the seeds remember everything they need”
So you gave yourself to the soil
“The dark will be your womb tonight,” said David
as Mary whispered, “imagine! imagine! the long and
wondrous journeys still to be ours”
And all those words turned like
compost inside you, revitalizing
until you found your voice again
clear and beautiful and buoyant
and when you sang, January was there
reaching out to you,
coffee in hand, saying
“Let us take this joy to go”
***
When I'm stuck, reaching for a poetry book often helps me find my way again. I wrote this with lines from some of my favorite poems, and I found that pulling books off my shelf this morning and imagining a conversation with all these poets brought a kind of sparkle and sense of connection to my morning ✨
Katie, this is absolutely incredible. What a brilliant idea, you have woven the poems from these great poets into a beautifully poem. I enjoy your poems so much!
This is sweet, Rachel. Attics can be real treasure troves, can’t they. I have had stairs, ladders and pull downs to access the attics in my life, and your wonderful poem let me to think about my first reading breakthrough and attics I have known.
This is splendid, Margaret. What a delightful creative way to reflect on books. “The ones I ate like candy”, “I never asked your pronouns” and “but then you spoke/you opened up your heart/you bled on me/unveiled yourself/took flight/and soared above.” Just a few of the memorable lines in your exceptional poem!
While writing Look Homeward, Angel, they say that Thomas Wolfe walked through the stacks of the NY public library weeping.
He knew that if he read every waking moment for the rest of his life,
he would not begin to read every thought or phrase that each author had written.
I understand.
My books surround me
like living arms, loving arms.
No more shelf room, no more room even for shelves.
Books I have read
Books I have not read
Books I will never read
bring me the joy of sunshine, of summer rain, or birdsong, just by being there.
I stand in my study and see
The American Indian, a 57-years-ago college textbook from an anthropology class before we found the word indigenous
a worn red cloth-covered pocket Greek New Testament
a thick Hebrew Bible with pages of beautifully drawn letters and vowel points, where I learned to read backwards
a paperback series by Susan Howatch, medieval sagas based on Salisbury Cathedral with wonderful two-word titles like Glittering Images and Mystical Paths
Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights—tall, thin hardcover volumes covered in green and ivory leaf-patterns, matching sisters like their authors
a small German dictionary
Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth
My complete set of Agatha Christies
a well-worn volume of the poems of Wordsworth
and one of Emily Dickinson and of Alexander Pushkin
Sibley’s Guide to the Birds of North America
Biographies of Catherine the Great, and of Katherine Graham
Poetry, biography, history, mystery
Once or twice I packed a box for the library
used book sale—it was hard
to say goodbye.
No audio books or kindles for me:
I need the colors of covers, the kelly green of Great Expectations
and the red of Merriam Webster, third edition.
The feel of paper, the sound of pages turning, the beauty of typeface.
The heft of books in my hands.
I do not know who will get my library when I am gone
I feel myself sitting in your room surrounded by these treasures - and the joy they bring just by being there. When I moved from my house, parting with old friends was such a rupture.
Oh we are similar!!! I love old books and you have some great titles that look interesting to add to my collection of books to read next. I adore Especially old well loved books. Thank you for this!
I love this Barbara! Our dwellings seem similar in the books they harbor, as is our love for books of the tangible, touchable kind. I love your list, and susspect there are quite a few more!
This is an unforgettable poem, Korie. I was thinking of our public library, and public libraries that I have known, as renting a stay in a public library for a week, with a small suite, helping out and 24/7 access to do some of what you suggest!
I love this Nancy! The independent booksellers that I know would heartily agree! Your poem and pieces of it are perfect visuals for them to put in their shops and in our public libraries!
Claire, this is beautiful. Like the knowledge that we can pass the love of books and readings to our beloved children, and also share that passion with others we love. My brother was and our youngest son are writers, and healthy mounds of good books, which will always overflow whatever is designed to hold them, seem a prerequisite.
“Look, we are not unspectacular things,” said Ada
as James noticed how “our grief gave off a slight glimmer”
Jess held your hands with “the dirt of your motherland
unapologetic beneath your nails,” and when you didn’t
know what to do next, Cathryn said
“the seeds remember everything they need”
So you gave yourself to the soil
“The dark will be your womb tonight,” said David
as Mary whispered, “imagine! imagine! the long and
wondrous journeys still to be ours”
And all those words turned like
compost inside you, revitalizing
until you found your voice again
clear and beautiful and buoyant
and when you sang, January was there
reaching out to you,
coffee in hand, saying
“Let us take this joy to go”
***
When I'm stuck, reaching for a poetry book often helps me find my way again. I wrote this with lines from some of my favorite poems, and I found that pulling books off my shelf this morning and imagining a conversation with all these poets brought a kind of sparkle and sense of connection to my morning ✨
Here are the poems and their authors:
Dead Stars, by Ada Limon
Made Visible, by James Crews
You Are Inseparable, by Jess Housty
Summer Apples, by Cathryn Essinger
Sweet Darkness, by David Whyte
Last Night the Rain Spoke to Me, by Mary Oliver
In the Company of Women, by January Gill O’Neil
😭😭😭 this is so beautiful Katie!!!
Thanks Kaitlin 🥰 this was a fun prompt!
Wow! So lovely Katie. I love how you did this.
This is wonderful! Thank you for this conversation!
this is brilliant and i’m excited about the book recs 😊
I love this and often do this as well with any words I run across. It's so helpful to get things going, it feels like play with other writers.
Katie, this is absolutely incredible. What a brilliant idea, you have woven the poems from these great poets into a beautifully poem. I enjoy your poems so much!
I still remember
At five years old
Sitting cross-legged on the bed
And for the first time
Connecting the letters to sounds
The sounds to words
And to the worlds beyond
How they all stared up at me
From the pages
I still remember
The creaking sound
Of the 70-year-old
Ladder to the attic above
Where my mother revealed
More treasure: more words
More worlds of
Alcott, Lee, Silverstein, E.B. White
And others I was too young
To understand fully
Still I knew I had discovered
The secret, a vision
What my own world could become.
♥️♥️📕📕
more words, more worlds!
I love this, and it brings back that lovely time of discovery of what words in books could offer.
This is sweet, Rachel. Attics can be real treasure troves, can’t they. I have had stairs, ladders and pull downs to access the attics in my life, and your wonderful poem let me to think about my first reading breakthrough and attics I have known.
I turn the page and
the page turns into portal,
into anywhere
Yesss!!!
You are so right on, A.
I felt the need to label them
According to their worth:
They who accompanied me through times of trial,
Who challenged me and taught me how to think.
The ones I ate like candy, momentary bliss.
Some I allowed to linger
To thread their way into my words.
But most I cast aside
Or shelved
Forgotten for their gift.
–
I never asked your pronouns
When at first we met
I looked you over, glanced at what you wore
Listened to what they said of you
Outside the kitchen door.
But then you spoke
You opened up your heart
You bled on me
Unveiled yourself
Took flight
And soared above.
–
To you I give my heart
A place beside by bed
The only parts of you I’ll share
I’ve outlined them in red.
This is splendid, Margaret. What a delightful creative way to reflect on books. “The ones I ate like candy”, “I never asked your pronouns” and “but then you spoke/you opened up your heart/you bled on me/unveiled yourself/took flight/and soared above.” Just a few of the memorable lines in your exceptional poem!
thanks for the echoes, Larry!
Good Books
^
I’ve never curled up with a good book,
not being much off a curler.
But I have sat in quiet and loud cafes,
on a deck, under a tree, at the shore
on a plane, and horizontal on something
resembling a bed.
^
Comforted by an array of books,
scattered around our house,
like a bookstore bringing in
a new shipment of books,
or like God creating mountains
out of these marvels.
^
Still, I buy more, convinced that I will one day
finish sorting and donating,
and praying that my beloveds
will not curse me when I am gone,
as they plow through
the small mountain of Good Books.
^
Right now, on a cold, grey spring day,
I will try curling up, like a snail,
and read a good book.
Holding it in my hands like a newborn baby
or a sweet beloved, precious and waiting
for the end of the book.
Love this!
Thank you!
Good Books
While writing Look Homeward, Angel, they say that Thomas Wolfe walked through the stacks of the NY public library weeping.
He knew that if he read every waking moment for the rest of his life,
he would not begin to read every thought or phrase that each author had written.
I understand.
My books surround me
like living arms, loving arms.
No more shelf room, no more room even for shelves.
Books I have read
Books I have not read
Books I will never read
bring me the joy of sunshine, of summer rain, or birdsong, just by being there.
I stand in my study and see
The American Indian, a 57-years-ago college textbook from an anthropology class before we found the word indigenous
a worn red cloth-covered pocket Greek New Testament
a thick Hebrew Bible with pages of beautifully drawn letters and vowel points, where I learned to read backwards
a paperback series by Susan Howatch, medieval sagas based on Salisbury Cathedral with wonderful two-word titles like Glittering Images and Mystical Paths
Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights—tall, thin hardcover volumes covered in green and ivory leaf-patterns, matching sisters like their authors
a small German dictionary
Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth
My complete set of Agatha Christies
a well-worn volume of the poems of Wordsworth
and one of Emily Dickinson and of Alexander Pushkin
Sibley’s Guide to the Birds of North America
Biographies of Catherine the Great, and of Katherine Graham
Poetry, biography, history, mystery
Once or twice I packed a box for the library
used book sale—it was hard
to say goodbye.
No audio books or kindles for me:
I need the colors of covers, the kelly green of Great Expectations
and the red of Merriam Webster, third edition.
The feel of paper, the sound of pages turning, the beauty of typeface.
The heft of books in my hands.
I do not know who will get my library when I am gone
to assisted living home or columbarium.
I know they will receive my heart.
They will be lucky, and loved.
I feel myself sitting in your room surrounded by these treasures - and the joy they bring just by being there. When I moved from my house, parting with old friends was such a rupture.
Oh we are similar!!! I love old books and you have some great titles that look interesting to add to my collection of books to read next. I adore Especially old well loved books. Thank you for this!
I love this Barbara! Our dwellings seem similar in the books they harbor, as is our love for books of the tangible, touchable kind. I love your list, and susspect there are quite a few more!
I could live in a library,
Consuming the pages
Of worn-out tomes
As sustenance,
Sleeping on the
Unadorned tables
With dreamy words
Behind my resting eyes,
Stacking and shelving
Good books for exercise,
And counting my blessings
That the pleasing smell
Of bound, aged paper
Adorns my home
Like the theories learned,
Wisdom gained, and
Stories unforgettable.
This is an unforgettable poem, Korie. I was thinking of our public library, and public libraries that I have known, as renting a stay in a public library for a week, with a small suite, helping out and 24/7 access to do some of what you suggest!
"Potluck:
Stories that taste like Hawaii"
Puffery for my sister
Who did not wake up.
If you need a fresh reason.
This has me thinking and pondering, Chuck!
A good book is good for the soul.
It can steady us in a difficult time.
it can offer guidance, counsel, comfort
in rough and rocky times.
A good book can offer up
a good recipe of comfort
food for the soul.
A good book can send us
on a search around the world.
A good book can take us
back in time,
to teach us lessons
we still have not learned.
Traveling far into an alien
future is another possibility
Good books bestow
pearls of wisdom, joy,
wonder, love, beauty
to enlighten the soul.
Books enrich our lives.
Bookshelves and TBR piles
are like treasures
waiting for
fingers to reach for them,
hands to hold them,
eyes to read them.
And it all starts
with story time.
I love this Nancy! The independent booksellers that I know would heartily agree! Your poem and pieces of it are perfect visuals for them to put in their shops and in our public libraries!
Two of my favorite places in the world: independent book shops and libraries!
Yes!!!
A good book
My love of books
From my mum
Who just seems to gobble books up
One after another at high speed.
My love of books
I'm passing onto my daughter
Who stays awake too late at night, reading under the covers.
My love of books
That fill all the big bookcases
You built when we moved house
(a home for my books)
And still overflow into piles scattered around in every corner.
My love of books
That makes deciding which one (or two)
To pack for holiday so hard
Which story and words will journey with me as I travel?
My love of books
They comfort and protect
But also challenge and change
Different lenses through which to see the world (and myself).
My love of books
I wish I could read all the books I want
And I wish I could read books again for the first time
To experience that awe and wonder and magic again
For the first time
Of a good book.
Claire, this is beautiful. Like the knowledge that we can pass the love of books and readings to our beloved children, and also share that passion with others we love. My brother was and our youngest son are writers, and healthy mounds of good books, which will always overflow whatever is designed to hold them, seem a prerequisite.
My life
Saved
Satiated
Satisfied
Completed
Given permission
Expanded
Distracted
Inspired
Lifted
Emboldened
Educated
Seen
Understood
Sparkled
Discovered
Held
Nurtured
Loved
By a good book.
Books are wonderful. Thank you for sharing.
I love this list, Vanessa. Another poster for the booksellers and libraries!
Day #22 A Good Book
Delight in each and
and every beloved story,
build a temple here.
Yes--a perfect way to simply describe the sacredness of a good book!
A Good Book
I rarely go anywhere without a book -
a good book is a good friend
it offers me company and comfort when I'm alone
it gives me patience and distraction while I wait
it cheers me when I am sad
it teaches me
entertains me
guides me
and supports me
a good book gives me lots to talk about
with family and friends
a good book opens my eyes to different ways to make our way through the world
a good book lets me marvel at the beauty of the way the words are crafted on the page
That's why I rarely go anywhere without a book
A good book is an eternal gift to the world
For me, it is a companion.
A distraction,
giving a runaway mind a diversion
allowing sleep.
It is a teacher,
providing textbook-like examples
of lives well,
or poorly, lived.
It is a source of inspiration,
well needed
in these dark times.
It can be a prophesy.
showing us what is possible,
and giving us a common language
to refer to as short hand
I've always retreated to these other worlds
These places created by force of will
or by divine inspiration and guidance
These gifts, friends, teachers, ministers, and prophets
I long to return to humanity
a piece of what I have received.
Only time will tell.
This is very nice, Joe.
A good book
Yesterday it was
"Legends and lattes"
that transported me
from my swirling mind
Into the coffee shop
Of an aspiring orc.
Having delighted me,
It deposited me
Back at bedtime.
Love Legends & Lattes!!
Nice, Jess! I don’t “Legends and Lattes”. But I will now!
Of all the books I've loved
in a life well-read,
this small tome
nurtures my heart
and feeds my soul like no other.
Our voices give life
to laments and praise
line by line as we pray
the lilting meters
of the Psaltery.
I hear you Kate! Psalms are beautiful when read or sung!