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.
Invocation by Jeanne Lohmann
Let us try what it is to be true to gravity, to grace, to the given, faithful to our own voices, to lines making the map of our furrowed tongue. Turned toward the root of a single word, refusing solemnity and slogans, let us honor what hides and does not come easy to speech. The pebbles we hold in our mouths help us to practice song, and we sing to the sea. May the things of this world be preserved to us, their beautiful secret vocabularies. We are dreaming it over and new, the language of our tribe, music we hear we can only acknowledge. May the naming powers be granted. Our words are feathers that fly on our breath. Let them go in a holy direction. ~ from SHAKING THE TREE, Fithian Press 2010