Poetry is food. In my writing room, I keep William Carlos Williams taped to the mirror … his poem, that is. A few years ago, a turquoise colored card printed with one of his succinct verses arrived in the mail with material from The Poetry Foundation. I loved the poem and could not let it go. I read it every day after breakfast. I try to remember it as I go about my work. I see it throughout the day and sigh, feeling an ache. Perhaps the poet may have felt an ache like mine when he wrote those words. BTW, they are five lines from “Asphodel, that Greeny Flower.”
Poems around the room
Across the room, taped to the built-in cabinet alongside my desk, is another little gem, this one from George Herbert. The paper it’s printed on is tattered now and sports thumbtack holes from a lifetime of my moving it from one bulletin board to another until I stuck it with cellophane tape to where it is now. (See it below.) The line I like best: “By all means use sometimes to be alone.” Writers MUST have that, but doesn’t everyone else? Take time to think, ponder, reflect, ramble around and kick up some dust.
Poetry for wisdom
Just above George Herbert’s so-helpful directive is the oldest quote that guides me. Over the years, I’ve taped it in journals, carried it in my purse, posted it on the refrigerator, attached it to a sturdier piece of paper, and many years ago fixed it where it now resides near my keyboard. It has been with me since I can’t even remember, a least twenty years. Its message pounded like thunder through me when I first read it and gave me strength to keep writing when I no longer felt I could.
To honor the genius who wrote it, I placed a portion of the quote in the front matter of my new book, Undertow, where it was meant to be.
Today, I honor the poet/author, Marcel Proust. Enjoy!
“We do not receive wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can make for us, which no one else can spare us … for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world.” ~ Marcel Proust.
