~Henri Nouwen
Hi y'all! Happy Poetry Friday! I might be rambly today...you never seem to mind and I appreciate that.
So I was thinking about a word (One Little Word) for 2024, and "new" was a strong contender. I liked what it inspired regarding being creative and original & also handling change and transitions. But I couldn't quite bring myself to settle on it!
There's no point in forcing these things, so I kept thinking and a word I was happy with ended up presenting itself. It's a word that seems like it could hold both "new" and "generous" (my OLW for 2022, which I liked): "open." I can be open to new ideas, to giving. I can be an open book, open my eyes, blow it wide open. It's an open invitation.
An "open" search through my poetry file resulted in a bounty of options (enough for a year?). Here's one:
Linda McCullough Moore
It’s impossible to sneeze
with your eyes open.
When you sneeze,
all your body
functions stop,
even your heart.
Still,
I keep trying.
*******
Reading the above poem led me to visit Linda McCullough Moore's website, where I saw that a Nigerian sports betting company added their content to her welcome. Arg! ("As you delve into the realm of captivating tales, consider venturing into the world of online sports betting with [company]... Just as stories connect souls, [company] connects you to the excitement of sports betting.") What is this? It seems like Ms. Moore has not updated anything for a decade. Does anyone know her?
*******
More opens:
Federico García Lorca
The door was left open,
and at dawn the entire sky
emptied onto her balcony.
*******
Creature
J.I. Kleinberg
When the world seemed made of doors,
all open, we never tired of asking each other,
What animal would you be? My friends
wanted to be horses, cats, but my creature
was a being of parts, no breed, maid and myth,
a wild-maned body of the unordinary,
my escape. Sometimes I was the being,
sometimes its conjoined rider, aloft, away...
read the rest here
*******
Marcie Flinchum Atkins has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Marcie!
16 comments:
Oh, I love Rambly Tabatha. What a great OLW! I look forward to seeing how OPEN becomes a focus for you. Great choice...and that first poem. Ha! It's so fun and so true. I hope we can find more from this poet and less about betting.
Ramble on, dear Tab! One of my fave Emily Dickinson quotes: “Not knowing when the Dawn will come, I open every Door.” Here's to opening! xo
Tabetha, OPEN is a great choice! It opens so many possibilities. I love your playful artwork as well. Thank you for sharing Federico García Lorca’s gorgeous poem.
Tabatha, I love OPEN -- open to growth! It's part of a Jesuit motto I've tried to live all my life. I look forward to accompanying you and your OLW this year via Poetry Friday.
Oh my, I came to type "Ramble on, dear Tabatha!" and then saw that dear Irene had typed the same thing! We love your rambling, the way you are OPEN always to the new, the generous, the way you ARE generous. And I love your sophisticated crayon work, too. You are a being of parts.
Tabatha,
Hi! I like how you shared your OLW metacognition. I'm still rolling mine around. Open is a wonderful word - so many possibilities, as you noted.
I can be a rambler too, so no worries about that ever from me!
I just used the word "detritus" in a poem I was writing and then to come across it again in the poem by Kleinberg...wow. I haven't chosen a word for lots of years, but maybe that should be my word this year (more the scraps and remnants than the waste matter and refuse)? Is the Universe talking to me, or am I nuts?
I think it's an exciting word, Mary Lee. Gets you thinking outside the box. "Once you've mastered its meaning and pronunciation, you’ll find that detritus is a term— originally a geology term referring to loose material, such as broken rock fragments, resulting from disintegration— that can be applied in many situations." (Merriam Webster)
OPEN is a great word! So many possibilities!
OPEN is a wonderful choice!
OPEN - so full of possibility. And I love your drawing, too. I'm looking forward to seeing how this word unfolds throughout the year for you.
Open is such a lovely OLW. An invitation to the world!
I really like your word. So many possibilities. I am now going to challenge myself to sneeze with my eyes open.
Your ramblings opened my eyes (lucky I didn't need to sneeze) to the many possibilities of the word. Thank you.
I am always open to Rambly Tabatha! We love her!
Open is such a great word. I sometimes choose a word and sometimes don't, and sometimes I choose one and then forget about it. :/ But this year, I'm in the process of waiting for just the right thing. I'm narrowing it down and might have something in place by the end of January. We'll see.
I wonder what happened to Linda McCullough Moore?
Wow what a gorgeous carry-us-away poem by J.I. Kleinberg, it just lifts you right up and never stops, thanks for sharing it Tabatha. And I hope you are carried through portals and up high with OPEN throughout the year!
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