Good morning Cathy. Wow, this studio notes brought back a flood of memories! I just took my beloved "Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror" by John Ashbery off the shelf. Truly a favorite! Now I feel the need to read once again! Thank you! I was fortunate to attend a reading by Mr. Ashbery when I was painting in grad school. He was, as expected, marvelous and kindly signed my dog-earred copy. I imagine you know his collages but just in case...https://www.tibordenagy.com/artists/estate-of-john-ashbery Much gratitude for this meaningful reminder. With kindness, Michele
Dear Cathy, I'm so sorry my English is so terrible... Luckily, DeepL helps me get by, and despite my poor English, my favorites are the American poets—Emily Dickinson and Mary Oliver—to the point where I don't even need a translator. I love their worlds, which are so fully embodied in this world—the irony of E. Dickinson and the tenderness in M. Oliver. Recently I’ve discovered Nordic poets like Olav H. Hauge and Tarjei Vesaas. So for me, poetry is truly essential and tied to the experience of life. Writing or reading poetry requires me to be fully connected first to myself and to life.
Thank you for this poetry festival, which I’m sure I’ll love
Thank you Claudine! You mentioned a few names I want to discover or read more. I am going to write things in a dedicated notebook. I appreciate your thoughtfulness and very good English!
I love the rippling meanings of haiku,which I believe started as brief epigrams introducing much longer poems...the invitation or mind-set to a longer piece. In a semi-related way, some years ago I ran into this poem in translation by Hafiz, and it yields something new every time I read it:
I am so happy to see this new feature, Cathy! My relationship with poetry is a lengthy one...it began with one of those wonderfully charismatic schoolteachers who valued every word I wrote and gave me confidence to write. Sadly, the negative reaction to my poetry (from a loved one) immediately put an end to my desire to write poetry and I have not written a word in over three decades.
I DO love to read poetry. Of late I have been reading The Art of Losing: Poems of Grief and Healing (ed. Kevin Young). The anthology collects 150 historical and contemporary poems and Young has organized it into five sections (Reckoning, Remembrance, Rituals, Recovery, and Redemption). I'd gotten it after my dad died in '21 and am reading through it again while I work on my grief study of Wuthering Heights. It has reminded me of all the different styles of poetry and of the true purpose (in my opinion) of writing poetry: the creative expression of emotions related to our understanding of the world around us. Reading work from a wide-range of authors has introduced me to new writers and nudged me back to my extensive poetry shelf to revisit my own collection.
I have also been dabbling in the work of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath and I am looking forward to the PBS American Experience special airing this summer on Mary Oliver, whose work (and love of Nature) is an important source of inspiration to me. Her guides, A Poetry Handbook and Rules For The Dance: A Handbook for Writing and Reading Metrical Verse, are excellent.
Thank you for offering this salon, Cathy--I look forward to watching it develop. ♡
Thank you Jessica - and especially I appreciate your sharing re the not writing for so long. Lots to consider. I think Mary Oliver is going to be mentioned quite a few times in these comments and for good reasons.
I read an Emily Dickinson poem nearly every day, particularly in my studio.I don't understand most of them but they are short and phrases leap out and I write them down as starting points for flights of fancy. I really love her. Was lucky enough to go to her house last year in USA>.
I also collect those Penguin poetry books for their cover designs. They are wonderful.
Hello, Cathy, a recent discovery (last year) is Gideon Heugh (he has a Substack called 'The Green Chapel', I think). I gave various friends his books for Christmas :) He's a generous, wise, and truthful writer... I turn often to Mary Oliver and Emily Dickinson, but John Keats is my true love, ever since my teens... Yes, I'm a Romantic, but always a hopeful one :) I've never connected with the Metaphysical Poets - too much head, not enough heart - so I'll be interested to hear your thoughts :) Claire x
Thank you for your thoughtful comment - yes Keats. Dear Keats. So many poets inspired by him and so many readers. I am still reading and listening to the metaphysical chaps - keeping an open mind mind and curious to know more. Often laughing when maybe a poem was not intended to be funny!
I took a poetry class in college. It was probably my favorite class ever. We read famous poets, we read our own poems, but when the instructor read one of my poems, it was mind-blowing. For a couple of weeks, I thought I might become a poet. What I read today, is mostly the poetry of nature writers, which sometimes isn't actual poetry. It just seems that way.
My all-time favorite poem is from Wendell Berry.
"When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake rests
in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.
I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light.
For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free."
Yes, Shakespeare and more famous authors are great, but I understand Wendell Berry.
Thank you Marilee - yes Berry has a timeless voice and immediacy that is quite apart - another one for me to look at again. And yes a good teacher with a careful voice makes all the difference to our appreciation, I feel.
Thank you for this delightful space. I have recently discovered and been enjoying Elizabeth Rimmer, a Scottish herbalist and poet published by Red Squirrel Press. She writes a lot about plants, birds and the natural world with a gentle evocative voice, and a mythic undertone. I started with Haggards and then acquired The Well of the Moon. And I am awaiting the late Joanna Macy’s translation of Rilke’s Letters to a Younger Poet which is not poetry but concerns it and is a short volume of such profound wisdom that I am staggered to think it came from a young man. I have returned to it again and again for several decades now.
HI Cathy, poetry (great feature!)...A few months ago, I found my file folder of poems that I wrote many years ago when I was recently separated from my ex-husband. Mainly childrens' poetry. This discovery has led me to start reading poetry again, but no romantics, no men, only women and mainly Canadian as I want to get a sense of our country, inhabitants and space through the female gaze. Right now I'm reading "Northerny" by Dawn MacDonald, she lives in Whitehorse, Yukon in our far north. She grew up in a cabin without running water or electricity. It's her unromantic view of living in a northern city, often messy, painful and very funny at times. In an interview she commented, ".. I think there is so much beauty without having to always clean up the mess. I'm really drawn towards art that's not so clean and not so polished and that shows us some of those realities of things"
I have also only read snippets of Mary Oliver, but she's quoted so often I think I'm going to have to find her at my local library.
I like the sound of Dawn MacDonald and her perspective - will definitely add to my list. I am glad you had that folder of work to look back on and can relate. There was a long period when reading make voices was just a no for me. I still put women writers to the front of the queue when I choose what to read. Thanks Nora.
Your poetry salon is a lovely and timely idea. Poetry is such a reflective form of writing, to be read slowly and savored. It seems to be a healing balm for our times. Mary Oliver’s keen observations of the natural world are favorites. I never enjoyed poetry that requires a reader’s guide to understand it, preferring simply yet articulately expressed observations of real life. This salon will be an interesting adventure and I look forward to growing as a poetry reader. 🌱
Thank you Janet for your thoughtful response and encouragement. I am grateful to everyone for sharing their thoughts and suggestions for reading. I hope over time many of us will discover new voices
I love Han Kang’s writing and didn’t know about this book. Thank you! I love Mary Oliver and another favourite of mine is Rhea Tregebov, a Canadian poet.
Hi Cathy, thanks for these suggestions. Poetry is essential for me too. I always have a collection on my bedside table and try to read something before starting a new day. Unfortunately, I don't speak English well enough to read in the original, and that's a shame, because translations always change something (I often read the same poems translated by different people, and they change so much...).
In any case, I don't deny myself the pleasure of reading poetry from all over the world and from every era. Currently, however, I'm reading some Italian poets I constantly return to: Mariagela Gualtieri and Chandra Candiani.
Good morning Cathy. Wow, this studio notes brought back a flood of memories! I just took my beloved "Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror" by John Ashbery off the shelf. Truly a favorite! Now I feel the need to read once again! Thank you! I was fortunate to attend a reading by Mr. Ashbery when I was painting in grad school. He was, as expected, marvelous and kindly signed my dog-earred copy. I imagine you know his collages but just in case...https://www.tibordenagy.com/artists/estate-of-john-ashbery Much gratitude for this meaningful reminder. With kindness, Michele
Michele, thank you! Oh to have heard Ashbery read his work, wonderful. Thank you also for reminding me re his collages!
Dear Cathy, I'm so sorry my English is so terrible... Luckily, DeepL helps me get by, and despite my poor English, my favorites are the American poets—Emily Dickinson and Mary Oliver—to the point where I don't even need a translator. I love their worlds, which are so fully embodied in this world—the irony of E. Dickinson and the tenderness in M. Oliver. Recently I’ve discovered Nordic poets like Olav H. Hauge and Tarjei Vesaas. So for me, poetry is truly essential and tied to the experience of life. Writing or reading poetry requires me to be fully connected first to myself and to life.
Thank you for this poetry festival, which I’m sure I’ll love
Thank you Claudine! You mentioned a few names I want to discover or read more. I am going to write things in a dedicated notebook. I appreciate your thoughtfulness and very good English!
Hi Cathy,
I love the rippling meanings of haiku,which I believe started as brief epigrams introducing much longer poems...the invitation or mind-set to a longer piece. In a semi-related way, some years ago I ran into this poem in translation by Hafiz, and it yields something new every time I read it:
https://optimisticbeacon.com/2018/05/06/some-fill-with-each-good-rain-poem-by-hafiz/?amp=1
Thank you Lydia, I am grateful to you for the suggestion and yes Haiku and other shorter poems fascinate me also
I am so happy to see this new feature, Cathy! My relationship with poetry is a lengthy one...it began with one of those wonderfully charismatic schoolteachers who valued every word I wrote and gave me confidence to write. Sadly, the negative reaction to my poetry (from a loved one) immediately put an end to my desire to write poetry and I have not written a word in over three decades.
I DO love to read poetry. Of late I have been reading The Art of Losing: Poems of Grief and Healing (ed. Kevin Young). The anthology collects 150 historical and contemporary poems and Young has organized it into five sections (Reckoning, Remembrance, Rituals, Recovery, and Redemption). I'd gotten it after my dad died in '21 and am reading through it again while I work on my grief study of Wuthering Heights. It has reminded me of all the different styles of poetry and of the true purpose (in my opinion) of writing poetry: the creative expression of emotions related to our understanding of the world around us. Reading work from a wide-range of authors has introduced me to new writers and nudged me back to my extensive poetry shelf to revisit my own collection.
I have also been dabbling in the work of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath and I am looking forward to the PBS American Experience special airing this summer on Mary Oliver, whose work (and love of Nature) is an important source of inspiration to me. Her guides, A Poetry Handbook and Rules For The Dance: A Handbook for Writing and Reading Metrical Verse, are excellent.
Thank you for offering this salon, Cathy--I look forward to watching it develop. ♡
Thank you Jessica - and especially I appreciate your sharing re the not writing for so long. Lots to consider. I think Mary Oliver is going to be mentioned quite a few times in these comments and for good reasons.
I read an Emily Dickinson poem nearly every day, particularly in my studio.I don't understand most of them but they are short and phrases leap out and I write them down as starting points for flights of fancy. I really love her. Was lucky enough to go to her house last year in USA>.
I also collect those Penguin poetry books for their cover designs. They are wonderful.
Yes and yes to Dickinson and the Penguins! Thank you Mandy
Hello, Cathy, a recent discovery (last year) is Gideon Heugh (he has a Substack called 'The Green Chapel', I think). I gave various friends his books for Christmas :) He's a generous, wise, and truthful writer... I turn often to Mary Oliver and Emily Dickinson, but John Keats is my true love, ever since my teens... Yes, I'm a Romantic, but always a hopeful one :) I've never connected with the Metaphysical Poets - too much head, not enough heart - so I'll be interested to hear your thoughts :) Claire x
Thank you for your thoughtful comment - yes Keats. Dear Keats. So many poets inspired by him and so many readers. I am still reading and listening to the metaphysical chaps - keeping an open mind mind and curious to know more. Often laughing when maybe a poem was not intended to be funny!
Oh yes, the laughing/groaning, when maybe not intended, I remember that :D x
I took a poetry class in college. It was probably my favorite class ever. We read famous poets, we read our own poems, but when the instructor read one of my poems, it was mind-blowing. For a couple of weeks, I thought I might become a poet. What I read today, is mostly the poetry of nature writers, which sometimes isn't actual poetry. It just seems that way.
My all-time favorite poem is from Wendell Berry.
"When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake rests
in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.
I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light.
For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free."
Yes, Shakespeare and more famous authors are great, but I understand Wendell Berry.
Thank you Marilee - yes Berry has a timeless voice and immediacy that is quite apart - another one for me to look at again. And yes a good teacher with a careful voice makes all the difference to our appreciation, I feel.
Thank you for this delightful space. I have recently discovered and been enjoying Elizabeth Rimmer, a Scottish herbalist and poet published by Red Squirrel Press. She writes a lot about plants, birds and the natural world with a gentle evocative voice, and a mythic undertone. I started with Haggards and then acquired The Well of the Moon. And I am awaiting the late Joanna Macy’s translation of Rilke’s Letters to a Younger Poet which is not poetry but concerns it and is a short volume of such profound wisdom that I am staggered to think it came from a young man. I have returned to it again and again for several decades now.
Many thanks Jo, I will seek out Elizabeth Rimmer, who I don’t think I have encountered before. Rilke I would like to look at in more depth, one day
HI Cathy, poetry (great feature!)...A few months ago, I found my file folder of poems that I wrote many years ago when I was recently separated from my ex-husband. Mainly childrens' poetry. This discovery has led me to start reading poetry again, but no romantics, no men, only women and mainly Canadian as I want to get a sense of our country, inhabitants and space through the female gaze. Right now I'm reading "Northerny" by Dawn MacDonald, she lives in Whitehorse, Yukon in our far north. She grew up in a cabin without running water or electricity. It's her unromantic view of living in a northern city, often messy, painful and very funny at times. In an interview she commented, ".. I think there is so much beauty without having to always clean up the mess. I'm really drawn towards art that's not so clean and not so polished and that shows us some of those realities of things"
I have also only read snippets of Mary Oliver, but she's quoted so often I think I'm going to have to find her at my local library.
I like the sound of Dawn MacDonald and her perspective - will definitely add to my list. I am glad you had that folder of work to look back on and can relate. There was a long period when reading make voices was just a no for me. I still put women writers to the front of the queue when I choose what to read. Thanks Nora.
My most recent discovery is Jane Clarke's "When the tree falls", an
Irish poet.
Thanks Cathy for Poetry Salon, so many wonderful words to take inspiration from.
Thank you Margaret - I appreciate your comment and look forward to looking out for Jane Clarke’s poetry.
Seamus Heaney. May Swenson. Cavafy. Elizabeth Bishop. Some poets with whom your time is well spent. Thank you!
Thank you - what a great range of poets, and particularly thank you for mentioning May Swenson - must read more, I liked what I read years ago.
Your poetry salon is a lovely and timely idea. Poetry is such a reflective form of writing, to be read slowly and savored. It seems to be a healing balm for our times. Mary Oliver’s keen observations of the natural world are favorites. I never enjoyed poetry that requires a reader’s guide to understand it, preferring simply yet articulately expressed observations of real life. This salon will be an interesting adventure and I look forward to growing as a poetry reader. 🌱
Thank you Janet for your thoughtful response and encouragement. I am grateful to everyone for sharing their thoughts and suggestions for reading. I hope over time many of us will discover new voices
I love Han Kang’s writing and didn’t know about this book. Thank you! I love Mary Oliver and another favourite of mine is Rhea Tregebov, a Canadian poet.
I have heard of Tregebov but never seen their work. Another one to seek out - many thanks!
Happened on this - this morning
Gregory Pardlo, Wishing Well read and interpreted by Padraig O Tuama from Poetry Unbound podcast Oct. 2, 2020 episode
So worth a listen!
Thank you Lynn
So excited to see this. I’m on the go today but will look forward to chiming in soon.
Thank you Lynn, whenever you find time you are welcome to pop back. Please do comment as you wish and I look forward to hearing from you.
Hi Cathy, thanks for these suggestions. Poetry is essential for me too. I always have a collection on my bedside table and try to read something before starting a new day. Unfortunately, I don't speak English well enough to read in the original, and that's a shame, because translations always change something (I often read the same poems translated by different people, and they change so much...).
In any case, I don't deny myself the pleasure of reading poetry from all over the world and from every era. Currently, however, I'm reading some Italian poets I constantly return to: Mariagela Gualtieri and Chandra Candiani.
See you next time!