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 Moon Rises Slowly Over the Ocean by Xu De-min
It is time We stand like children On the silent beach And calmly wait for the moon Nothing has been lost on the moon today A banana kazoo Sucked between the lips of night Is no longer blowing out of tune Crisscrossed boughs set up an easel The moon wearing a pure white suncap Slowly comes over like a shy boy Holding a transparent nylon net With which to scavenge the ocean Of it’s many broken hearts Bobbing on the sea to the horizon ~ translated by Edward Morin and Dennis Ding, from This Same Sky, Selected by Naomi Shihab Nye (Aladdin Paperbacks, 1996