poemelf
Charlie, this bird’s for you
After the year we’ve had—and I’m talking about 2021—any poem that offers light in darkness is a welcome guest in my head. But this one is just beyond. So beautiful, so un-treacly, so begging to be read out loud and memorized, so seasonally and emotionally timely.
MoreCountdown 2020, last 24 hours: Old wisdom for a new year
We’ve nearly reached the end, folks. The last day of our terrible no-good very bad year. To close out this series, I’ve selected a gentle poem, May Sarton’s “House of Gathering.” It’s like a deep cleansing breath. I taped it to a bench in a complex where my friend Sister Pat, 80 and going strong, […]
More2020 Countdown, day two: Take me to the river
On the second to last day of this sad and strange year, we turn to yet another poet who died in 2020. I left Lisel Mueller ‘s “Bedtime Story” on the banks of the Rouge River in suburban Michigan. Bedtime Story by Lisel Mueller The moon lies on the river like a […]
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2020 Countdown, day 4: Remember me? says the earth
Anyone still here? The countdown series is winding down—only four more days. The poems will be dark for the next seventy-two hours but I promise to close out 2020 on a positive note. Today we look at the forgotten sister of the Family Annus Horribilis, climate change. Just as ugly as her siblings but […]
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2020 Countdown, day nine: the loneliness of being right all the time
With only nine days left in 2020, I’m here to celebrate the end of toxic politics in 2021! Just give me ten minutes to land my spacecraft on planet Earth and the festivities will begin. Alas, hate-filled political divides aren’t going anywhere. But before we enter into any poisonous conversations over the holidays, […]
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2020 Countdown, day 11: Enough with the parting
On day 11 of the end of 2020, let’s turn to Israeli poet Natan Zach who died this November. I left his poem “Against Parting” at Michigan Central Station. The 1913 Station, once called Detroit’s “Ellis Island” and later the favorite of “ruin porn” photographers, is being renovated by Ford Motor Company. (You can link […]
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