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.
The Orphan by Muhammad al-Maghut
Oh, the dream! The dream! My sturdy gilded wagon has collapsed, its wheels have scattered like gypsies. One night I dreamt of spring and when I woke flowers covered my pillow. I dreamt once of the sea. In the morning my bed was rich with shells and fins. But when I dreamt of freedom spears surrounded my neck with morning’s halo. From now on you will not find me at ports or among trains but in public libraries sleeping head down on the maps of the world as the orphan sleeps on pavement where my lips will touch more than one river and my tears stream from continent to continent. ~ translated by May Jayyusi and Naomi Shihab Nye, from This Same Sky, A Collection of Poems from around the World, selected by Naomi Shihab Nye