"...it could be weeds in a vacant lot..." Image by P. M. Eckle
It has taken me 61 years to realize that I need to read poetry.
In the first draft of this post I wrote, "...that I need to read more poetry" but that would suggest that I was already reading some poetry and that would not be true.
Late last summer in search of something for this blog I picked a dusty Poetry of Robert Frost of my shelf. I started reading and found it a mostly pleasant and rewarding experience - all except for the poems (the longer ones) I found confusing. The Frost poems I've posted here have all been favorably received.
Then a friend gave me a copy of a poem by William Stafford and that led me to Amazon online and Borders in real time, finding much more of Stafford's work and wondering how I had never known this man's name before now. (Here are the Stafford poems I've posted.)
On a recent stroll through Barnes and Noble I came across Mary Oliver's work. Again, I was embarrassed not to have known the name of this wonderful writer named in 2007 by the New York Times Book Review as "far and away, this country's best selling poet" - which means I should probably be reading the NYTBR more often, too!
Now I have books of poems by Frost, Stafford and Oliver at my writing desk and I pick them up at odd moments to page through and stop when titles and opening lines make me pause. It strikes me that preachers should be readers of poetry. That's not to say that homilies should be poetic (nor to say that they shouldn't) but the preacher is a wordsmith for the faith and poets have something to offer us for our craft that no one else can teach.
Poets cherish and understand words - they love them. They know how to massage their meaning and meter, relaxing them to a composed beauty others had not yet found in them. A poet holds words as if they were jewels and turns them slowly in the light until they refract meaning and color that play differently on all who read them.
In their own way, preachers are meant to do just the same with the words of scripture. And that's why preachers should read more poetry.
Bookstores have shelves, rows and sections of poetry, much of which I don't like or find difficult to understand and at 61 I need to work with what I can grasp in a relatively short time! I understand Mary Oliver's poetry and hope you will appreciate the simple beauty of her words here.
PRAYING
It doesn't have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
a few words together and don't try
to make them elaborate, this isn't
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.
-Mary Oliver, in the collection, Thirst
-ConcordPastor
You probably already know this one but if not, I think you'll like Edward Hirsch's poem, "I Am Going to Start Living Like a Mystic."
ReplyDeleteI think you are a poet. You have such a wonderful way with words. I have not always appreciated poetry, but seem to be more attracted to it as I get older, probably for some of the same reasons you mention. I like hearing it read aloud. If you listen to WGBH radio in the morning, every day at 8:55 Garrison Keillor reads a poem. It's amazing that so much can be conveyed in such a few words--like the one you just quoted. Thank you for broadening our horizons.
ReplyDeleteI have a book of Mary Oliver's poetry that was a gift. After reading this post, I looked at its jacket cover. It says that she lives in Provincetown. So maybe you will run into her this summer!
ReplyDeleteMary Oliver is one of my favorites - I'm so glad you have discovered her work!
ReplyDeleteMeighan