This is so lovely, Margaret, and full of joy. “But come and play with me/Where words dissolve/And commas are no more/Where spirits leap/And thoughts are wild/Here in the mind of a child.” This is beautiful. I brought two drums with me on this excursion, and you have inspired and reminded me def me to play them! Thank you!
Thank you Kaitlin! A perfect word for a Sunday here and a Monday there! Do you have the words lined up for each day ahead of time, or do they come as the month goes on? Either way, they resonate with me every single time!
I dare take a different view of “play”: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances… Last scene of all, that ends this strange eventful history, is second childishness and mere oblivion; sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.” - from”All the World’s a Stage” by William Shakespeare.
Dwight, this was the first thing that popped into my mind when I read the prompt word. The next thing was how play differs so much from one person to the next. My "play" could be someone else's work.
I love this, Claire. It is a nice Sunday morning, and I am away for a wedding here in Salem. I am in a local diner reading your poem, and it just resonated with me so strongly. I almost wanted to jump up and shout “everybody play!” But thought better of it. Inspired by your poem, I am ready to play! Thank you!
This lovely and delightful! It is at turns tender and sweet, playful and funny, wise and whimsical. What artful skill to have all of that in one poem! And I love this towards the end:
"will you spend your days with me/sharing joy and holy merrriment/not because the path is easy,but because we were made/for load-bearing laughter/as a sudden breath of breeze/stirs all that has been sitting stagnant." That is quite beautiful, and "load bearing laughter" is a keeper!
Play is how children
learn: summer, winter, spring, fall.
When did you last play?
Thank you Nancy. The sun is finally shining here, and I am gimng to head out on a bike and just ride!
Enjoy your bike ride, Larry!
Thank you Nsncy! It is a bit cooler than I realized; it may be a hike instead!
Play
One could say
That life is play,
From the sun’s first ray
To the close of day,
As a child at heart along the way,
A way of living,
A way to pray.
"A way to pray" 🤍 love this Karen
Thanks Claire.
What a nice poem, Karen, of light and joy and perfect Rhyme!
Thanks, Larry.
“Come and play, Nali!
Beaming grandkids say.
A sound so joyful and sweet
What else could I do today?
I pray that joy and wonder
Will always come their way,
That inner child that wants to scream
“Everyone come out and play!
The mind of the child is connected to play for a lot of us today!
Jouer à or jouer de
It’s all in the preposition, they say
To define the way we play
On instruments
With rackets
Along the lake, beneath the trees.
–
But come and dance with me
Where words dissolve
And commas are no more
Where spirits leap
And thoughts are wild
Here in the mind of a child.
This is so lovely, Margaret, and full of joy. “But come and play with me/Where words dissolve/And commas are no more/Where spirits leap/And thoughts are wild/Here in the mind of a child.” This is beautiful. I brought two drums with me on this excursion, and you have inspired and reminded me def me to play them! Thank you!
Your poetry-writing excursion?
I wish! I am here for a wedding, though next weekend is the Massachusetts Poetry Festival here.
Enjoy!
Play
I watched a YouTube video
Of a snow leopard cub til 3:00 am last night.
Who knows why or how it came to me.
Maybe prayer.
The cub had fallen from a cliff in China,
It lay unmoving on the ground, it’s tailbone broken.
But shallow breathing.
Hikers saw it, stopped,
carried it down the mountain
slung in a tarp
to a wildlife clinic.
The cub could not walk.
They fed it meat with tweezers held above its mouth.
Still shallow breathing.
Matted hair.
After some days it began crawling
to its food dish. Painstakingly.
A male.
Unable to move his back legs,
Dragging them behind
he crawled.
Hanging his head over the dish.
Eating ravenously, guarding and sleeping with his dish.
Afraid.
Gently each day
they massaged his legs and spine.
Named him Ling.
Then, two weeks in,
they introduced a rubber ball, red and white, with a handle.
(Nothing he would have seen in the wild)
He crawled through the straw bedding in his den,
Sniffed it
Touched it with a paw,
Nosed it.
Each day, he approached the ball
Nudged it
Mouthed it
Rolled it across the straw
Crawled to it.
Batted it.
Until the crawl became a slow uneven walk.
Then an almost a stuttered lope.
To play!
Healing.
And in the night’s dark middle,
That ball, that small cub
offered healing to me.
What a moving recounting of the journey of the cub and of you to the play that was healing.
Hardball.
Hooky.
Possum.
Dumb.
Dead.
Around.
The fool.
The hand you were dealt.
The field.
With fire.
With yourself.
With house money.
Play with me,
Play your ass off.
Here, Here, Chuck! Time for a play day!
Day #25 Play
Evoke the essence
to see with eyes that delight
in finding freedom.
Play involves
Imagination,
The magical
Capacity to pretend
And to dream up
Characters, worlds,
Scenarios, games,
Anything the heart
Desires to call
Into reality…
Stretching the
Boundaries
Of what can be
Until we forget
That limits exist.
Nice, Korie. The songwriter Greg Brown calls it joy like “a kid lost in the game”. Holy play it is!
Play
It makes me smile
to remember that
as a child
I would play
at being an adult
meetings, classrooms, houses, jobs
...
and now
as an adult
I delight
at the chance
to play ball with my puppy
to play cards with my daughter
to pull out a board game with friends
and start my day with the Wordle!
Yes! A wonderful reminder that us adults can play at being children in the very best of ways!
Thank you Kaitlin! A perfect word for a Sunday here and a Monday there! Do you have the words lined up for each day ahead of time, or do they come as the month goes on? Either way, they resonate with me every single time!
I dare take a different view of “play”: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances… Last scene of all, that ends this strange eventful history, is second childishness and mere oblivion; sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.” - from”All the World’s a Stage” by William Shakespeare.
Dwight, this was the first thing that popped into my mind when I read the prompt word. The next thing was how play differs so much from one person to the next. My "play" could be someone else's work.
Oh, yeah !
Reminds me of Rush’s song “Limelight”
I expect Shakespeare knew how to play!
One virtual farm
plus low stakes equals hours
of quiet delight.
(Yes, I have been playing Stardew Valley. 😅)
Your capacity to make me smile and feel the world is truly wonderful, A. Thank you!
Play
Come and play with me
Just for a day
Come and stay
Under the trees
Down by the stream
In a world of fairies
And imagination
Sunlight dancing through the leaves
Laughter in the air
Humming in the breeze
Bright skirt twirling
Sparkly jelly shoes dancing
Hair wild and flowing
She comes and calls to me
The child within
"Come play with me".
I love this, Claire. It is a nice Sunday morning, and I am away for a wedding here in Salem. I am in a local diner reading your poem, and it just resonated with me so strongly. I almost wanted to jump up and shout “everybody play!” But thought better of it. Inspired by your poem, I am ready to play! Thank you!
if Jesus
were around
an empty tube
of wrapping paper
I can picture him
being a
Jedi knight
caught up in
play
with the children
that come to him
open your
mind, body,
and soul
to child-like
joy and laughter
for we
must become
like children
to inherit
the kingdom of
heaven
This is brilliant, Steven. And yes, I am sure he woild be using those tubes for light sabres!
Will you play with me?
This tender, vulnerable question
from my 5-year-old nephew
(Yes! that is what I am here for)
is the more direct version
of what I've asked my whole life.
For Matthew, it's beanbag-tossing,
a sort of cornhole game,
plus the one that went up in the gutter.
For me it was leprechauns,
school of my design on our days off
(my brother the sole reluctant
and oh-so-temporary pupil),
Little Red Riding Hood re-engineered
for the whole 4th grade to have a part.
Now the same question
means in a concert, usually,
or will you join our board
where we start with drumming
and end with prayer?
Sports were always a no-go,
board games more my speed,
music a blend of love and work.
Marriage (I do and I will)
a sacred version of this very question,
will you spend your days with me
sharing joy and holy merrriment
not because the path is easy,
but because we were made
for load-bearing laughter
as a sudden breath of breeze
stirs all that has been sitting stagnant
back into pingpong
(or maybe beanbag) vibration?
Load bearing laughter! Love this and resonate with this. Days get so heavy and stressful without laughter
This lovely and delightful! It is at turns tender and sweet, playful and funny, wise and whimsical. What artful skill to have all of that in one poem! And I love this towards the end:
"will you spend your days with me/sharing joy and holy merrriment/not because the path is easy,but because we were made/for load-bearing laughter/as a sudden breath of breeze/stirs all that has been sitting stagnant." That is quite beautiful, and "load bearing laughter" is a keeper!
I am seven and intent
as I cut the small circles
from the bread,
carefully pour the Welch's
into the jelly glass shaped like a chalice.
I line up my dolls on the couch
and preside at the piano bench altar,
with words I heard every week, but knew
were not mine to say
as a little Catholic girl
playing church.
I love this Kate! And perhaps one day, they will be yours to say!
Lots of years and many changes later, they are. And I never forget her.