{"id":10193,"date":"2015-04-05T14:47:14","date_gmt":"2015-04-05T18:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/?p=10193"},"modified":"2015-04-05T14:47:14","modified_gmt":"2015-04-05T18:47:14","slug":"national-poetry-month-and-so-what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2015\/04\/national-poetry-month-and-so-what.html","title":{"rendered":"National Poetry Month, and so what?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
via Academy of American Poets<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It’s no secret that I adore National Poetry Month. For one entire\u00a0<\/em>month, I’m not a nerd: I’m in tune!\u00a0I can post poetry to my FB. I can talk poetry to strangers. I can confess I love it!<\/p>\n

This is no small thing, as you probably guessed. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

So… Why is poetry a big deal to me? What does it have to do w\/ beginner’s heart, and why should you — why should all of us — care?<\/p>\n

Poetry is the language of the heart. I firmly believe that. When even the least publicly poetic of us hurt, suffer loss, are in love…we turn to poetry. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked to write a poem for someone’s funeral, for a grieving friend. It’s a natural language — mother tongue — for children, who often scribble poems for any occasion. No self-consciousness, just a happy sharing.<\/p>\n

As we ‘grow up’ this changes. We no longer hand our poetic offerings to any & all. We may admit to liking lyrics (just poetry set to music, quite often), but we don’t ‘read poetry.’<\/p>\n

But I do. And I always have. As a little kid, I submitted my poems to a children’s magazine of the times. Each month, I would turn to the Table of Contents to see if I’d been published. But I also wanted to read what the other kids were saying. Because even the lightest of ‘verse’ has meaning, and gives us a window into someone else.<\/p>\n

\"via<\/a>
via google<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As for what poetry has to do w\/ beginner’s heart…? Everything, for me. Reading the poem of a refugee, an ageing man, a child confronting loss, a black woman struggling to stand tall against racism & sexism… These all stretch me. I’m none of the above, but through a poem — and for me, poetry works better than fiction — I catch a true glimpse, it feels like. My poetry mentors are rarely ‘like me’: they’re a black man, a gay white man, a gay Englishman, several black women, 2-3 Poles (both men & women), long-dead Chinese poets… The list is long and as colourful as the words in a good poem.<\/p>\n

For the rest of the month, I’m going to include — at least now & then — a link to a poem I love, that I hope you’ll love, as well. Try it — the worst that will happen is you’ll like it. And have to live for this one month, every year.<\/p>\n

In a Station of the Metro<\/a> (Ezra Pound, 1885-1972)<\/em><\/p>\n

The apparition of these faces in the crowd<\/p>\n

Petals on a wet, black bough<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s no secret that I adore National Poetry Month. For one entire\u00a0month, I’m not a nerd: I’m in tune!\u00a0I can post poetry to my FB. I can talk poetry to strangers. I can confess I love it! This is no small thing, as you probably guessed. \ud83d\ude09 So… Why is poetry a big deal to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[317,22],"tags":[11,1181,262,478,479,318,1263,1190],"class_list":["post-10193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-poetry-writing-month","category-poetry","tag-beginners-heart","tag-britton-gildersleeve","tag-buddhist-blogs","tag-ezra-pound","tag-in-a-station-of-the-metro","tag-national-poetry-month","tag-national-poetry-writing-month","tag-poetry"],"yoast_head":"\nNational Poetry Month, and so what? - Beginner's Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It's no secret that I adore National Poetry Month. For one entire\u00a0month, I'm not a nerd: I'm in tune!\u00a0I can post poetry to my FB. 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Years spent living on the margins - in places with exotic names and food shortages - have left her with a visceral response to folks \u2018without,\u2019 as well as a desire to live her Buddhism in an engaged fashion. She\u2019s a writer and a teacher, the former director of a federal non-profit for teachers who write. She believes that if we talk to each other, we can learn to love each other (but she's still learning how). And she believes in tea. 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