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.

Basel Square by Aharon Shabtai

After months abroad,
I strolled down to Basel Square 
and the store run 
by the grocer from Wadi Ara.
That same smile 
on the devastated face 
flickered at the edge 
of a shopkeeper’s mouth,
or a barber’s,
along Alexanderplatz
during the thirties.
With a feeble grip like this 
they shook the hands
of clients,
members of the master race,
who deigned to drop in.
And this is what drives 
the sleep from my eyes
and forces me
to rise and go back to the table
in this dim hour
when the thud of the paper
hitting the doorstep is heard.

~ from World Beat (New Directions, 2006)