Friday, April 20, 2018

NPM 2018 & Poetry Friday: Poetry Found!

National Poetry Month 2018
"Give praise with friends near and far,
flinging words to the sky!"
- Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

It's another busy morning, but somehow I find it easy to become distracted by my inbox. First, there's Tara's Poetry Friday post, with a new-to-me poem "Two Set Out on Their Journey" by Galway Kinnell. Then I open the weekly newsletter from Fresh Bookology where I click on this article about Pomelo Books and our poetic friends Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong. One of my favorite features of the Fresh Bookology newsletter is this section 
which leads me to Kirby Larson's blog where I end up scanning posts and discover "This Sacred Thread" in a comment to her blog post, Another Slim Christmas.


This Sacred Thread
By Heather K Janules


They once dwelled among us, the people of memory.
They who knew us, they who taught us,
They who hurt us, they who loved us.
They touch our lives time and again,
through their presence and their absence.
Through familiar scents and favorite songs,
Through old stories and renewed sorrow.
As the earth turns and leaves fall,
We reach back to renew the bonds between us.
With hearts and hands open
We hold onto to love,
Ever-stronger than death.
We reach back in gratitude and understanding –
Without our time together,
The pain and the joy,
We would never be who we are today;
We would have little to pass on ourselves.
Without fear, with thanksgiving
and with hope for all that awaits,
We remember those who have gone before,
We honor the circle of life and death,
And our place within this sacred thread.


Isn't it lovely to find poetry in one's inbox? Here's to a delightful Poetry Friday! 
 has this week's round-up of poetic goodness. 
She's celebrating the release of 
Imperfect:  poems about mistakes:
an anthology for middle schoolers.

13 comments:

  1. What a beautiful poem, Ramona - thanks for sharing it. I loved those last three lines, especially.

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  2. I do love that you found this, Ramona, and enjoyed your journey to it, too!

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  3. The line that reads, "They who hurt us, they who loved us" is so true. I think fate brought me to your poem. It's my sister's birthday, and I have been so upset w/ her for a long time that I had no plans to call her; now I think I should, and so I will. Thank you.

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  4. Mmm... lovely poem. Thank you for sharing this!

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  5. Your inbox is full of great stuff! Thanks for sharing "This Sacred Thread." "Hope for all that awaits" is a beautiful sentiment, isn't it?

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  6. What a beautiful poem. Thanks for this.

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  7. Yes, my inbox is full of it, too! (Poetry, that is. :-) )

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  8. This is a beautiful poem, and I enjoyed reading how you discovered it through an inbox full of poetry--much better than the advertisements and promotions to ignore.

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  9. Thank you for sharing this with us, Ramona. Lost loved ones do indeed "touch our lives time and again."

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  10. Hooray for poetry in life's inboxes!

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