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.

All of Them by Qassim Haddad

Everybody said it was useless
Everybody said, "you're trying to lean on sun dust"
that the beloved before whose tree I stand
can't be reached
Everybody said, "you're crazy to throw yourself 
headlong into a volcano and sing"
Everybody said that salty mountain 
won't yield even one glass of wine 
Everybody said, "You can't dance on one foot"
Everybody said there won't be any lights at the party
That's what they all said
but everybody came to the party anyway

translated by: Sharif Elmusa and Charles Doria
~ from The Flag of Childhood, edited by Naomi Shihab Nye 
(Aladdin Paperbacks, 2002)