Poet Jane Hirshfield said "... the feeling I have about poem-writing (is) that it is always an exploration, of discovering something I didn't already know. Who I am shifts from moment to moment, year to year. What I can perceive does as well. A new poem peers into mystery, into whatever lies just beyond the edge of knowable ground."
I bring a different poem to the writing classes each week, not only to inspire but to introduce new poets to the group members.
What For? by Kim Stafford
What is beauty for— sunset searing my soul without thought or plan? Dawn green beauty, bee hum honey, stone in hand so silky the long sea worked centuries to ravish? And what for pain—thorn in heart for my hurt child, dumb ache for my brother gone thirty years, slow burn of disgrace when I fail at what I am to do: to see my country bruised and torn? So, to make good things— a song, a kind act, a friendship— feed on beauty at every turn. And to make truth, feed on sorrows, gnash their salty structures, bite the bitter rind. ~ from Singer Come From Afar (Red Hen Press, 2021)