{"id":10225,"date":"2015-04-11T13:21:10","date_gmt":"2015-04-11T17:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/?p=10225"},"modified":"2015-04-11T13:21:10","modified_gmt":"2015-04-11T17:21:10","slug":"catching-up-on-poetry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2015\/04\/catching-up-on-poetry.html","title":{"rendered":"catching up on poetry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"poetry<\/a>Each day of this month I’m writing poetry. (You ought to try it — really. It’s a LOT more fun when you aren’t being graded!) I’m also reading poetry daily — my own, that of others. And whenever April comes, I wonder how these habits got away from me.<\/p>\n

Because they feed me. I feel like one of those wrinkled, just-hatched butterflies exiting the chrysalis. Sitting in a kind of poetic sun, growing stronger. I know — pretty metaphorical, huh? But it’s true: poetry is like a tonic to me.<\/p>\n

I don’t expect I’ll convert you to writing it, necessarily. But maybe — if we’re both lucky — I’ll remind you how poetry can speak to deep places in you. And how it can even heal them.<\/p>\n

So here’s one I love, by Elizabeth Bishop<\/a>, one of my favourites. It’s a bit sad, but so lovely. And perhaps you need it, as I once did:<\/p>\n

One Art<\/p>\n

\n
The art of losing isn\u2019t hard to master;<\/div>\n
so many things seem filled with the intent<\/div>\n
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.<\/div>\n
Lose something every day. Accept the fluster<\/div>\n
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.<\/div>\n
The art of losing isn\u2019t hard to master.<\/div>\n
Then practice losing farther, losing faster:<\/div>\n
places, and names, and where it was you meant<\/div>\n
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.<\/div>\n
I lost my mother\u2019s watch. And look! my last, or<\/div>\n
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.<\/div>\n
The art of losing isn\u2019t hard to master.<\/div>\n
I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,<\/div>\n
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.<\/div>\n
I miss them, but it wasn\u2019t a disaster.<\/div>\n
\u2014Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture<\/div>\n
I love) I shan\u2019t have lied. It\u2019s evident<\/div>\n
the art of losing\u2019s not too hard to master<\/div>\n
though it may look like (Write<\/em>\u00a0it!) like disaster.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each day of this month I’m writing poetry. (You ought to try it — really. It’s a LOT more fun when you aren’t being graded!) I’m also reading poetry daily — my own, that of others. And whenever April comes, I wonder how these habits got away from me. Because they feed me. I feel…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[11,1181,1187,262,485,318,1263,1190],"class_list":["post-10225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-beginners-heart","tag-britton-gildersleeve","tag-buddhism","tag-buddhist-blogs","tag-elizabeth-bishop","tag-national-poetry-month","tag-national-poetry-writing-month","tag-poetry"],"yoast_head":"\ncatching up on poetry - Beginner's Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Each day of this month I'm writing poetry. (You ought to try it -- really. 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