Friday, April 3, 2020

Poetry Friday - Healing the Divide: Poems of Kindness & Connection

 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe is hosting
this week's roundup of poetic goodness.
Thanks, Heidi, for hosting and
for sharing shelter in poetry today.

If you're like me, you often see a quote at poets.org that deserves a place in your writer's notebook. Today's quote reminds me that poetry has an important place in our current landscape.

"Without poetry, we lose our way."
—Joy Harjo, U.S. Poet Laureate & Academy of American Poets Chancellor (2019– ) 
I'm  sharing the book, Healing the Divide: Poems of Kindness & Connection, edited by James Crews, in the hopes that it will help us find our way. Every time I open the book, I'm inspired by the poems I read.  These words from Ted Kooser in  the Preface provide the perfect invitation:
"Or what if we just throw open the windows and let in the clean light of every one of these poems? At least for those minutes, or so it seems to me, we'd see the world as a richer, more meaningful, a kinder and more tender place.
"Enjoy this book as I have, reading it through, then reading it through again, then going back to mark those pages I want to go back to again and again and again."
Light is my OLW for 2020. I'm giving special attention to things that light the way this year and this collection leads the way. Every time I pick it up, I find new poems to love. Today I love "Soaking Up the Sun" by Tom Hennen, "To Be Held" by Linda Hogan, and "Gathering" by Natasha Trethewey. Treat yourself and order Healing the Divide from your favorite independent bookstore. If you don't have an independent bookstore to support, Island Books, a beloved institution in our community for 45+ years, ships free to anywhere in the U.S. 

7 comments:

  1. This sounds like a wonderful and timely book. Thank you also for the link to the bookstore. I made a purchase today but will condider this one for my next buy.

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  2. What a wonderful post! I love how you find light in this book, these poems. Ted Kooser is simply one of the best.

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  3. I've heard such good things about this book -- I must order it soon! We definitely need the light of these poems to get us through this crisis. Thanks so much for sharing about it this week.

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  4. Thank you for sharing this book. It's new to me, and one I would love to read. It seems to offer just what our world needs right now.

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  5. It's taken me a while to get to your post, Ramona, & I want to say we need to be neighbors because my wish list grows longer every time you share a book. I'll order from my local Indie. I don't know this & love the words you shared. Happy Sunday throwing open your windows!

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  6. Any book that Ted Kooser writes the preface to I know I will love! Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Ramona.

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  7. Ramona, I'm finally here after taking allll week to make the rounds of last Friday's blogpost (gearing up for Online PreK has been hard). But I'm glad I'm here to learn about this book and the light it brought you, and to find shelter in Linda Hogan's poem. Be well!

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