The meadows are yellow with buttercups, and the birds fly out of the gold.
~George Augustus Moore
Happy Poetry Friday! Today's poem is by Wendy Stern, whose poetry has an archive at the Buddhist Poetry Review.
Vision
by Wendy Stern
If all you see is cityness,
Heavy cement, paving stones,
Concretised un-breathing,
Can you still notice out of the far corner of your eye
That solo flying buttercup,
Rooted in the crusty soil,
There between the cracks,
Amid the greyness, the bleakness,
All radiant yellowness?
Life,
No matter what,
Survival,
No matter where.
All radiant yellowness.
Wendy was a Buddhist and poet who lived in Bristol, in the west of England. For many years she was completely bedridden, and her poetry therefore came from an unusual perspective. Writing poetry was Wendy’s passion and her only form of creativity and self-expression. Her work was produced without the capacity to look at text, to write or to use a laptop. Dictating the poems and then editing them aurally took an immense amount of energy and concentration. Wendy passed away on April 8, 2015. -Buddhist Poetry Review
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Jama's Alphabet Soup has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Jama!
13 comments:
Well, Wendy's story, and poem, Tabatha, that "Life,
No matter what," is poignant and brings a stop in my thoughts, for once again seeing a life, no matter the challenge, beautifully lived. We need to remember. Thank you!
Sorry to miss commenting last week, Tabatha, and thanks for our chat! I agree that this is a good moment for radiant yellowness to fly out of the meadow and remind us, no matter where.
Thanks for the intro to Wendy and for sharing the buttercup poem, which seems like a metaphor for her life.
I love poems like this that remind us to look for beauty everywhere (both literally and metaphorically), especially when things seem bleak. Thank you for sharing the backstory about Wendy Stern as well. It adds depth to her words. : )
Tabatha, Wendy's poem has such lovely bright spots. It is sad that she could not spend time outdoors with nature nurturing so many humans.
Appreciations for bringing the work of this exquisite spirit to Poetry Friday, which has me to read some in the BPR, a calm place that I'm saving to return to, now that you have gifted it here, today. Your thoughtful sharing is what the world needs now, Tabatha. TY again.
Gosh, Wendy's perspective makes me wonder about how we use (don't use) or senses -- the way a blind person has a heightened sense of hearing, etc. I love that it is yellow --lightness -- that colors her world.
I didn't have time but I somewhat regret that I didn't add a mini-rant about media that shows disabled people's lives as having no value (e.g. the movie Me Before You) https://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/movies-that-challenge-ableism-47883538
I wasn't familiar with Wendy but wow, what a beautiful poem and a moving story about her life and work. Thank you. (And I'm with you on the rant.)
I love that Wendy finds that one yellow buttercup that brings joy and wildness and all that is not concrete cityness to us. Beautiful. I needed that poem. Thank you.
Swooning at the buttercup photo. And what an incredible poem from Wendy, her story needs to be told.
The experience of reading the poem is enhanced by the process of its journey to creation that impacts here, Tabatha. Thank you for the moving backstory of poet, Wendy Stern.
Oh I love this! Yes, to noticing buttercups among the concrete.
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