2020 Mizmor Poetry Anthology Annual Deadline: August 15 Mizmor Anthology is centered on a theme: "Editors are looking for poems reflecting on the spiritual connection between human beings, nature and the environment." *** Visit the website for the complete guidelines Please submit via SUBMITTABLE form -- No fee to submit -- Writers will receive one print copy mailed to U.S. address, only . www.PoeticaPublishing.com Sample Poem by Lois Edstrom EBEY’S LANDING Whidbey Island I come to the shore when demands of everyday grow heavy, float on waves of stillness, calmed by rhythms of the sea. The time between this and then — a quiet moment when day fades into night, or a clutch of seasons that span a lifetime. I wait, standing on the edge of the unknown — time salted with intensity, serenity, hopefulness, uncertainty. How to wait, yet capture the moment. How t...
Hello Donna, I am here and connected. For me, the secret was to go back to your email which contained the invitation. Thank you so much for doing this. My internet was down for a few days, so my response was delayed. Looking forward to posting poems of others as I discover them and my own for your comments!
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A poem of the disconnect between us and nature by Robert Frost from 1939. A lovely conversation style and poignant story of doing the best we can, while doing what we do.
ReplyDeleteThe Exposed Nest
Robert Frost
You were forever finding some new play.
So when I saw you down on hands and knees
In the meadow, busy with the new-cut bay,
Trying, I thought to set it up on end,
I went to show you how to make it stay,
And, if you asked me, even help pretend
To make it root again and grow afresh.
But ‘twas no make-believe with you to-day,
Nor was the grass itself your real concern,
Though I found your hand full of wilted fern,
Steel-bright June-grass, and blackening heads of clover.
“Twas a nest full of young birds on the ground
The cutter-bar had just gone champing over
(Miraculously without tasting flesh)
And left defenseless to the heat and light.
You wanted to restore them to their right
Of something interposed between their sight
And too much world at once-could means be found.
The way the nest-full every time we stirred
Stood up to us as to a mother-bird
Whose coming home has been too long deterred,
Made me ask would the mother-bird return
And care for them in such a change of scene
And might our meddling make her more afraid.
We saw the risk we took in doing good,
But dared not spare to do the best we could
Though harm should come of it; so built the screen
You had begun, and gave them back their shade.
All this to prove we cared. Why is there then
No more to tell? We turned to other things.
I haven’t any memory-have you?-
Of ever coming to the place again
To see if the birds lived the first night through,
And so at least to learn to use their wings.
in Collected Poems of Robert Frost, 1939, Holt and Co.
Thank you for setting up this new blog, Donna! I finally got in. The glitch turned out to be the fact that when I clicked the link to accept the invitation, it took me to a page that had 2 buttons that said "sign in." I clicked on the upper right sign in, and that took me to blogspot with my old blog memberships, but not the new one. Today I noticed the second "sign in" button down lower and more towards the middle of the screen. When I clicked on that, viola! It took me here! Oh boy. :)
ReplyDeleteI look forward to sharing the poetry journey together with you all.
Thank you, Elizabeth, for posting that Robert Frost poem. It is heartbreaking, like the nest of blue eggs, warm to the touch, which our weedwhacker exposed last spring. Heartbreaking like the scattered grass clippings my Beloved sprinkled on the nest, hoping to save it. But the mother bird never returned, now that her family home was exposed. Eventually something ate the eggs. The nest withered into the earth.
Since I am getting deep into writing my Master's Thesis, I will only be able to visit the blog once a month to post a poem and give feedback to your poems. Therefore our monthly rhythm is perfect for me. I have an older poem I'll rewrite to post here sometime in March, to kick off my personal monthly rhythm.
Write on!
Hello again: When we post our own poems, we can use the same format as class (e.g., Donna, Poem #1). I also have created two other posts, one for posting poems by other authors that we’d like to share, the other for resources (e.g., upcoming conferences, helpful books, interesting prompts, etc). Keep in mind that April is National Poetry Month, so lots of incentive for us to write!
ReplyDeleteHello all. Looking forward to reading and writing more poems together. Nadja
ReplyDeleteHurrah Nadja! Oh, the voices I would have missed.
DeleteSo glad you joined us, Nadja.
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