~Planetree International talking about "empathetic curiosity" in health care
Hi folks! Happy Poetry Friday! Today we have two poems. The first is from The Hocus-Pocus of the Universe by Laura Gilpin (love that title!). Not only was Laura a poet, she was a nurse and one of the early staff members of Planetree, an organization dedicated to developing and implementing a patient-centered model of care in hospitals. Reading about Planetree's mission is touching. It probably shouldn't be, because all medicine should be person-centered, but it is.
Can we be flawed and be loved, be happy? Yes, say I and Laura Gilpin.
The Two-Headed Calf
by Laura Gilpin
Tomorrow when the farm boys find this
freak of nature, they will wrap his body
in newspaper and carry him to the museum.
But tonight he is alive and in the north
field with his mother. It is a perfect...
read the rest here
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Maybe reading all those definitos recently drew me to this poem about the meaning of "snow."
What We Agreed to Call “Snow” in Yorùbá
by I.S. Jones
Night falls & snow joins in ceremony.
I search the clearing for danger
only to be met with ache.
Snow is now; there are things that can’t be translated.
Don’t give up on me, says the snow.
Again, I try. Snow is a landscape of loneliness.
It returns to Earth if only to be touched a little longer...
read the rest here
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Don't forget to sign up for the Holiday Poem Swap if that's your thing! Email me at tabathayeatts(at)gmail(dot)com.
The title of this post is from Life after Death by Laura Gilpin.
Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Matt!
I love both of these! They seem simple, but there's so much reflection and thoughtfulness to them. Great examples of how poetry shows us what we don't aways see.
ReplyDeleteThese are both lovely - but I was specially drawn to the snow poem - and the notes which touched on something I often think about - the handling of people's names, and the way people are re-labelled whether they like or not. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI went down that rabbit hole on "Read A Little Poetry", Tabatha, thanks for that, too, along with the wonderful poems, both to me a little bittersweet but unique ways of looking, like “something shaking from heaven.”
ReplyDelete"twice as many stars"...
ReplyDeleteOh my. That two-headed calf will stay with me for a long while.
ReplyDeleteYou find the best stuff!
ReplyDeleteTabatha, thank you for introducing me to Read A Little Poetry.
ReplyDeleteThanks for both poems Tabatha. I love the journey and image in the second poem, and all before the poem begins, and the closing "I walk to the center & let heaven fall over me." What a wonderfully new way to think about "Snow." Thanks also for a visit to Read A Little Poetry! Before the milkweed turn gray and wither, they turn a lovely orangey gold… their last hurrah before next season.
ReplyDeleteWhoops, that's me Michelle K above
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading both these poems.
ReplyDeleteEach of these is so arresting in its own way, and both are new to me. I need to read more about Laura Gilpin!
ReplyDeleteTabatha, the poems you choose for us to read are always ones to ponder and enjoy. Thank you. I never heard of a two-headed calf, so naturally, after reading the poem, I needed more information. It is always good for me to down the rabbit hole to learn what I do not know.
ReplyDelete