The Leap to Poetry

“I have taught myself joy, over and over again. It’s not such a wide gulf to cross, then, from survival to poetry” (Barbara Kingsolver).

                            How to Be a Shell

Be quiet. Wink. Let tides

turn you upside down. Quick,

sink, when a child hurls you

into foam. Keep your

mouth shut or speak out

of one side of your mouth

with your single velvet lip.

(Wendy Bishop, My Last Door)

Life and Death

The two old, simple problems ever entwined,

Close home, elusive, present, baffled, grappled.

By each successive age insoluble, pass’d on,

To ours to-day–and we pass on the same.

(Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass)

Often elusive, teachable moments—joy—dot the landscape of life, some perennially. It’s a survival, of sorts.

Aim for Even posts offer equanimity a dose at a time. No day or dose is ever the same, even if the aim is. You may read about the origins of Aim for Even here or on this site’s About page.