Because poetry tends to be this smaller container, where it attempts to contain the mystery of our lives, it’s the perfect vehicle for capturing a moment, holding it close to yourself, then sharing it with other people.
-James Crews
Greetings, all! I had a nice time in New Hampshire (for those of you who know NH, we were in Durham, Hebron, Bristol, and Portsmouth). For Poetry Friday, an amazing concept courtesy
James Crews, who has created anthologies about
kindness and
hope:
When I asked myself, Who would leave their joy on the table? I pictured workaholics, people who neglect their personal relationships in favor of chasing money or power. Or someone who is too preoccupied to notice sunsets, someone who doesn't stop to smell the roses. (An anti-poet?)
Mary Lee at Another Year of Reading has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Mary Lee!
I found it!
A previous post about empathetic joy.
14 comments:
Oh, my. How sad, not to know and wear joy. I hope I never lose mine - though I'm very willing to share it. Always lovely to be here, Tabatha. Sharing YOUR joy. :)
Thanks for sharing your joy, Tabatha!
I am hugging this poem, the idea that we can take hold of someone else's forgotten or discarded joy. I think we can in our poetry, in the small container that we carry around as poets, collecting all the grief and all the joy the world has to offer.
I love the idea that joy "shimmers in [the] hands" of someone who appreciates a discarded treasure. I also love the quote you share at the beginning of your post. Thank you for sharing, Tabatha!
How lucky to find so much secondhand joy freely offered for us to take and share every Friday in the Poetry Friday roundup! (But to discard joy, or refuse it, or not have time for it...I just don't get that. Perhaps that's one of the many things wrong with our culture these days...)
I think simply sharing our joy with others is a way to offer secondhand joy, yes? And mostly, I think, we humans forget time is precious and finite...and we live in this "must do/must accomplish" culture...here's to prioritizing joy! xo
What is lackluster to one person sparks joy in another... I love this celebration of "secondhand joy," Tabatha.
I loved this, have some of Crew’s books, full of joy as you wrote. and loved the previous post, too. It was a tough day yesterday and your words have helped me see more! Thanks Tabatha! ~ Linda B.
I’m reading Crewes’ book now and I loved this poem too 😊 Such a wonderful reminder that life is too short to leave joy on the table! —Patricia Franz
Appreciations for sharing and spreading these free floating bits of joy around Tabatha–what a wonderful altruistic act and thought, thanks! 💙
Oh I love this poem. And I think you're right--an anti-poet might be the one who'd leave joy on the table.
Tabatha, what a wonderful way to look at joy. Thank you James Crews. We need more joy.
I have a friend whose license plate is MUDITA. I've been meaning to look it up for years, and how have I lived all this time without a working practical knowledge of empathic joy? Or can I see evidence of it in my daily life, if I look close and ignore my spasms of publishing envy? As an avid second-hand shopper I think I can develop this muscle.
You're speaking my language! Finding simple treasures that were cast-offs from others can be potential gifts for others when I get my hands on them. And the easiest joy-spreading gift is a smile. Free!
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