Sometimes I Wish . . .


Sometimes, I wish I were a poet.

When I read the poems that Garrison Keillor selects for the Writer's Almanac each morning, I wish I could write poetry like Billy Collins or Emily Dickinson or Maya Angelou . . .

When I discovered the book of Shakespeare's sonnets while I was purging last week--the book I thought I'd tossed out years ago--and I read those lovely, lovely words again, I wished I were poet.

When a friend left this nugget of e.e. cummings's poem "i carry your heart with me," on Facebook this morning, I so much wished I were a poet:
"here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)"
That poem always makes me think of my sister, Kate, who died two years ago December 19, because several years before, we watched a movie together called In Her Shoes. It starred Toni Collette and Cameron Diaz as sisters who struggled with the differences between them. At the end of the film, Diaz's character recites that poem at her sister's wedding, a gift of love from one sister to the other. Of course, Kate and I giggled at each other as we wept buckets of tears at that scene, but those words, those simple, elegant words touched us both and brought us closer that night, I think.
"i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)"
That poem makes me miss my sister so very much, and makes me wish I were a poet . . .



Comments

  1. A beautiful post. I must admit that I usually only "get" poetry when I see its most affecting excerpts. That said, there are days I also wish I were a poet.

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    1. You are a poet--in prose, mon amie! Your writing is gorgeous! Hugs!

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  2. I had forgotten all about that part of the movie until you mentioned it, Nan. What a beautiful reminder to hold the people in our hearts the closest of all.

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    1. That was my favorite part! Bonus--I really like e.e. cummings anyway. ;-)

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  3. Wonderful words. That is the true gift of poetry, to express a universe in a few simple words...it is a rare and precious thing, like your special memory of your sister. Thanks so much for sharing that.

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  4. Thank you, Valley--what kind words!

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  5. I love Emily Dickinson, and Shakespeare, and lots of Cummings. Also Robert Frost and Carl Sandburg. And William Carlos Williams. I have occasionally written poetry, but I mostly read those by others.

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    1. Frost and Sandburg were favorites of my mom.

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  6. I am a very lousy poet, so I can appreciate someone who it really well. I loved that moment in that movie, too. The best part about it was that the sisters overcame a lifetime of not understanding each other to finally learn what they had in common.

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  7. Ironically, the only thing I've had published is a poem. But, I tend to write poetry in times of depression or unhappiness, so I'm glad I haven't written poetry in a long time. Lol

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  8. Neruda. Also, Summons by Robert Francis is my all time favorite. Yeats was my fave growing up and my best one to teach is Robert Frost or Edna St. Vincent Millay.

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    1. Yeats is great--Brown Penny is one my favorites!

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