Every Day Is a Poem by Jacqueline Suskin (manga ereader txt) 📗

lonely.

There is nothing

anyone could say to heal me.

I pass by your porch.

The garden that isn’t mine.

Plants call out for water.

I stick my finger

into each pot

to search out their thirst.

If I walk down the saddest

sidewalk and find

the magnolia in bloom

then in the city I can stay.

It is blooming.

Giant saucers of white.

I dig my fingernails

into the thick, fallen petals.

EXERCISE FOR THE SENSES

HEIGHTEN AND APPRECIATE YOUR SENSES

Focus on one sense today. My friend once did an experiment like this trying to heighten each sense, listening closely to the sound of his cat breathing, putting his face into a bowl of freshly cut flowers, eating a very spicy chili, rubbing his muscles with oil after a hot shower, indulging each of his senses in a new way. Try some version of this and write down your sensations, connecting the dots to memories, lingering in newness, and trying to assign innovative language to each sensual event. What feels healing about this practice? What feels hard about it? Every one of these moments is a poem. Try a new sense tomorrow. Let it be poetic, and write down your reactions.

GETTING IN TOUCH WITH

YOUR BODY OPENS A

VAULT OF INFORMATION.

You’re abundant with sensorial intelligence, and if you let it guide your pen, you might gain access to parts of your story that have been buried within you for some time.

WRITING PRACTICE

BRING AT LEAST ONE SENSE INTO EVERY POEM

To keep circling back to your senses, for the next few weeks as you write make sure to touch upon at least one sense in your work. Did you write a poem about going to the beach? Make sure you include a sensory expression. Did you write about a phone call with your mom? Try delving into the sound of her voice and what it felt like to hear her. Not every poem has to mention the senses, but it’s a really good way to get your point across by demonstrating something and not just telling the reader about it.

Alongside Highway 299

Multiple chainsaws harvest

timber in the basin. The crack

of big doug fir bodies falling

one after another, trunks

pounding the earth like a drum.

No voice laments these endings.

Yet the insects do sing.

Summer birds variegate notes.

Leaves speak—the ones

that float unfixed

sound like paper unfolding,

the yellows catch light

and bring quick bright

words to the dark forest.

The highway is too close to my cabin—

loud clank of tractor-trailers

and groaning engines, brakes

yowling like angry cats

on the mountain incline.

This far into the woods

and I still have to sift through sounds

to find the pure voice of earth.

I walk the trail to the garden,

sticks splitting beneath my boots.

For months I thought the strange

call of the grouse was a generator.

Then early one morning I saw

his shaking feathers, his throat

taut with passion.

When the road falls into the ravine,

when most of us are gone, maybe

an old and hidden language

will resurface. Even now, it offers

hints of itself when I stand

alone in the quiet night.

Explore your senses:

POETIC MINDSET TIP

SHARPEN YOUR SENSES AND HONE YOUR AWARENESS

Being in touch with our senses helps us with our overall awareness and perception. This enhanced skill of observation amplifies our poetry as we write, but it also adds to our general outlook as we become more in tune with the world around us through the sharpening of our senses. If we let our senses guide us through our day, we discover the bounty of involvement that our body and mind undergo on a regular basis, often without our noticing. Focus on the sensual, and the mundane suddenly rises into the awestruck, as we easily pull from the sounds, scents, sights, tastes, and feelings all around us. It’s quite healing to move through the day fully awake, realizing we’re endowed with a natural ability to indulge in sensuality on so many levels. This practice always leaves me awash with gratitude. When I remember to concentrate on my senses, I’m conscious in an expansive way and capable of noticing so much more of the majesty that’s constantly available to us all.

chapter 6

USE YOUR PAIN

The state of the world calls out for

poetry to save it.

—LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI

Poems don’t just create a shared understanding of awe or lead us into sensual wonderment, they also help us to uncover our pain and heal as we face the depth of our individual and collective ache. Poetry is therapy, whether you’re reading it, writing it, or simply evoking it in thought patterns and perspectives. Through poetry we touch the places that are too painful to linger in, we sift through our feelings of trauma, and we expose ourselves to the fact that we are not alone in this hurt.

ARE YOU

BROKENHEARTED

AND ANGRY?

THERE’S A POEM FOR THAT.

Here is the place, on the page, where you can let your inner fire burn as hot as you want, to witness it letter by letter, and to know it better. Shout each word aloud. Throw the page into the fireplace after you write. Seal your ramble in an envelope and tuck it away to revel in after you’ve found more healing. Just get your anger out, and let poetry be your container.

Are you mourning the loss of a loved one? Write a poem to let the pain loose.

You’re a bottle that cannot hold the pressure

of this sadness. Your grief truly needs

nothing from you but gentleness, no matter

how demanding it feels. Your process can be

as slow as you like.

This is where a mantra of poetry can be of great assistance. Say a line over and over to remind yourself of what was beautiful about this person, what they taught you, what they left