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.
Forewarning by Linda Stitt
Look away from beauty,
beauty is to fear.
Beauty grabs you by the heart
and hauls you over here.
Beauty grips you by the gut
and hurls you over there;
beauty shatters you to bits
and spreads you everywhere.
Beauty takes you by the throat
and blows your breath away,
she holds you captive in the night
and hostage by the day.
Once you’ve tasted beauty,
you can never stop;
beauty puts the spurs to you
and rides you till you drop.
Beauty doesn’t care a bit
for manners or convention,
she insists on nothing less
than your complete attention.
Beauty steals your mind
and gives you rapture in its place;
beauty casts a spell on you
by showing you her face.
Beauty is the bait
and beauty is the hook.
You’ll be seeing beauty
anywhere you look,
above, below and deep within.
Pervading through and through,
beauty’s gonna get you.
Love will too.
~Adjust Your Set (Natural Heritage Books, 1997)