~Paul Tournier
photo by Harry W. Yeatts, Jr.
logo by Elena
Rounding up the links from my 2020 National Poetry Month project: poems about "Things I Wish You Knew." I appreciate everyone who joined me, either as a poet, reader, or information contributor. There are so many more things we don't know! Keep your ears and heart open.
* Why Use A Wheelchair When You Can Walk? (ambulatory wheelchair users)
* Comforting Anxiety by Michelle Kogan (anxiety)
* Relief by Kat Apel (bladder cancer)
* In Syria by Jan Godown Annino (The Cat Man of Aleppo)
* Save the Villi! (celiac)
* Taylor's Shots (diabetes, Type 1)
* What I wish you knew about me by Elizabeth Steinglass (dyslexia)
* Ode to the Low Salt Diet by Janice Scully
* Remember That Time When by Mary Lee Hahn (lymphedema)
* I Wish You Knew by Carol Varsalona (the pandemic)
* What I Know by Linda Baie (Parkinson's dementia)
* Poems from "On Track" by Kat Apel (poor proprioceptive sense)
* I Wish You Knew by Linda Mitchell (reach out)
* Not for Kids by Heidi Mordhorst (trauma)
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Today's poem is by Ishihara Yoshiro. Could our spirits, our imaginations, our dreams fly up into the sky? Yoshiro saw us, human arrows. An excerpt of his poem "Wheat":
Remember the incredibly gentle wheat stalk
which holds its countless arrows fixed
to shoot from the bowstring—
you, standing in the same position
where the wind holds it.
— Ishihara Yoshiro [trans. Naomi Koriyama & Edward Lueders]
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Today's Little Ditty has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Michelle!
14 comments:
Wow, Tabatha....that excerpt is powerful. To think of being in the position of the wind holding the wheat. That's the beautiful surprise of poetry right there. Thank you for your series. I so appreciated the variety of poems and topics. And, I learned from others about what it feels like in the shoes of someone else. A beautiful job by you. You are a wonderful poet AND anthologer. I hope you create more collections.
This is wonderful to see them all here, Tabatha. I don't seem to be able to juggle blogging very well - so to now have a central landing spot for all the posts is very helpful! And what a wonderful diversity there is amongst the topics. I look forward to filling in my gaps! (I also love the pic of you from your previous post - with young Dash. Hoping his (and your) day was special.x )
What a great image, gentle but with countless arrows fixed. Thank you for sharing Yoshiro's excerpt
I am enamored of that wheat and am marveling at this collection you've curated. Thank you! xo
I missed your Thursday post. Congratulations and best wishes to Dash. I am happy to see he had his time abroad last year! So, I'm connecting to your poem excerpt, thinking of all those graduates who are poised to shoot into the world, this time wondering where they will land. Thanks for all the articles gathered, Tabatha. It holds a wealth of knowledge from "those who know". Enjoy your celebrations with Dash.
Thanks for rounding up your TIWYK links, T. I think I missed a couple and will have to go back and remedy that! Once again, you have found the perfect poem to reflect upon during this difficult time. Although, I really like the excerpt you included in your post, I think the second stanza was what spoke to me most of all.
Tabatha, I read this post before the one About Dash. Congratulations to him! Yoshiro's poem seems to speak to graduates who are the brink of something new. It has been extremely difficult to maintain dreams during Quarantine Life but with determination, those arrows hopefully will shoot straight into possibilities. Thank you for sharing my I Wish You Knew poem during your TIWYK project. I felt honored to be among my colleagues. Have continued Happy Graduation thoughts for a bright future for Dash.
Yes, let's be arrows and aim straight for the sky.
Love wheat arrows--something soft and organic paired with a sleek weapon. And that wind...Thanks for rounding up all the poems in your NPM project, Tabatha. So much to celebrate and learn!
Thanks for the collection of TIWYK poems. I love the wheat poem in its entirety. It is so apropos to us now-reminding us to remember who we were before this crisis, to let our courage and other strengths carry us through. To me, this poem says we each have something to share right now. Release your gifts to the wind!
Love the "Wheat" poem. I've never read this one before, so I'm glad your shared it here.
Thanks for sharing this powerful stalk of Wheat Poem–thats a mighty stalk of wheat. The last stanza referring to the wheat as having "arrows fixed
to shoot from the bowstring__"
Thanks also for sharing all your poems from April! xo
I will never look at a wheat stalk in the same way again - nor any of the subjects you tackled in your TIWYK collection. Thank you for opening my mind, once again. :)
I really enjoyed this enlightening series Tabatha. Thank you!
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