“Poetry is an egg with a horse inside it.”

On the Reading Table

Words elude me today.

I chop wood

carry water

metaphorically,

tending to laundry

washing dishes

feeding dog.

Vertical blinds

tap each other in the breeze

click clicking.

A mockingbird shouts

about I don’t know what.

One word surfaces like a

bubble floating to the surface of a pond:

Solace.

Another word joins with…

Offering solace.

And a flow unlocks…

Strength

Courage

Clarity

Perseverance

Gratitude for all

the beings working

to further kindness

and understanding

Look to the roots.

I wrote this poem in May, 2022. It’s a good fit for this moment. I mentioned in my post on July 6, 2024 that I’m working on a poetry book—a collection of poems written over 5 decades. I’m in the final stages now, pulling together all the last details, with a goal to publish by the end of the year.

Naturally, I’ve been steeped in poetry. A very special book currently on the Reading Table is How to Write a Poem, a children’s book written by Kwame Alexander and Deanna Nikaido, with whimsical collage illustrations by Melissa Sweet. I love what Alexander writes in a note at the back of the book. Here’s an excerpt:

To the question What is poetry?, a third grader responded, Poetry is an egg with a horse inside it. I couldn’t have said it better myself. A poem is a small but mighty thing. It has the power to reach inside, to teach us, to ignite our imaginations. Now, more than ever, children need a surefire way to channel their emotions, build their confidence, and discover the world and their place in it. Poetry, in its simplicity, with its accessibility and rhythm, can do all these things instantaneously….We wrote How to Write a Poem…to show you how to use your words, how to lift your voices…how to change the world…one stanza at a time.

Meanwhile, the birds arrived!

If you’ve been following my posts about the unique migration of 36 Northern Bald Ibises and their human foster mothers, the birds have completed their 700 km journey and arrived at their destination—Andalusia. 

Why Andalusia? According to the project website:

Global warming is also becoming a challenge for the Northern Bald Ibis. The birds of the colonies in the northern foothills of the Alps are having increasing problems flying over the Alpine barrier in autumn. A new migration corridor to Andalusia should enable them to reach a suitable wintering area without being hindered by the barrier of the Alps.

Make sure to check this last remarkable photo of the birds and the ultralight.

Thanks so much for reading. Be well. Take good care of yourselves and each other during this precarious moment. If you need some support, the free Healthy Minds app, created by the team at the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has some very helpful short and practical guided meditations in the Explore section of the app. Two in particular that you might find relevant and helpful are: Clarity in Uncertain Times, and Dealing with Election Anxiety. The Center for Healthy Minds mission is “to translate science into tools to cultivate and measure well-being.”

To further my own well-being, I’ll be taking a pause from writing The Interconnect in October to work on the book.