How does poetry reinforce your connections?
Just as my eyes rise to the level of a small cave, two white owls fly out silent, close to my face. They hover, confused in the sunlight, and disappear into the recesses of the cliff. All day I have been watching a new climber, a young girl with ash blonde hair and gentle, confident eyes. She climbs slowly, precisely, with unwasted grace, while I am coiling the ropes, watching the spectacular sunset
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 3:27
I feel sometimes I search for the right poem when a moment calls for it, but I wish I had more poetry inside me that I could just call upon to say, oh, I have the perfect poem for this. There's a poem by Jane Hirschfield called I think it's called The Ties That Bind. And when I first read it, it's about the power of two people who've loved so deeply
I love her work and I didn't know this poem in particular, but I particularly be admire and I'm deeply moved by the way that she is able to honor how love is both a wound and a healing and through the healing a strengthening between two people and mothers and daughters, as many of us know, can have complicated relationships. And there's a deep, deep love there and a lot of richness and a lot of joy and also, inevitably, a certain amount of wounding
And also they've all chosen to recite the poem back to me, which I absolutely love. There have been some really great connections made through poetry. I live in Missouri, and someone gifted a lady my book all the way in Montana. Quite a bit of distance, but she reached out to me via social media. We are now friends, and she's even joined one of the small groups that I facilitate. So that's a connection that was made through poetry
Good morning, Deborah. Thank you so much for chiming in. And I use the word chiming quite intentionally. Your voice was like a bell for me this morning, and you have touched on so many of the themes that are really important to me when I think about poetry and the place of poetry in my own life
I believe that every connection comes with purpose, and I look forward to seeing what that might bring about. So have a great rest of the day. Can't wait. Till next time. Bye bye