this little life of mine

As National Poetry Month comes to an end for 2009, we celebrate with A Poem in Your Pocket Day, where people are encouraged to carry around a poem with them all day and perhaps take it out and share it with someone. I chose How Do I Love Thee by Elizabeth Barrett Browning:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. 

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height 

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight 

For the ends of being and ideal grace.

I love thee to the level of every day's 

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. 

I love thee freely, as men strive for right. 

I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. 

I love thee with the passion put to use 

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. 

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose 

With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, 

Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, 

I shall but love thee better after death.

From Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet:

We Got

We got filthy air and air is all.
We got rotten rivers and water is air.
We got strangled streets and beer can highways,
crowded rooms and fume-filled flyways.
We got crap on our minds.

We got commercial this and billboard that,
neon thin and neon fat.
Yeah, we got beauty but it’s all in books,
or on some screen or where no one looks,
because it’s too far out of town.

Now, what are we gonna do?
The sky is blue but you have to look
straight up to see it.
And air is all,
all we got.

August 1969

This poem was written by one of my all-time favourite actors, Pete Duel. As well as a great actor (and poet), Pete was also an environmentalist who was deeply concerned about the planet and what was happening to it. I sometimes wonder how much he could have accomplished if he had lived. How much farther along would we be in our conservation efforts, our development and use of alternative fuel/energy sources or even our general awareness of our daily activities and choices on the planet? I guess we'll never know.

P.S. The photo is mine. I snapped it on the way into work this morning. Happy Earth Day!

1.

In times of darkness

The children of God rejoice

The resurrection

2.

Easter morn brings hope

Christ is risen from the grave!

All sinners rejoice!

3.

Dark and empty tomb

When the stone was rolled away

The Lord is risen!

Feeding the Birds

Little sparrows flutter and flit

at my feet as on a bench I sit

tossing food upon the ground.

See them hopping all around

picking up nuts and seeds and suet;

in tiny beaks is how they do it!

New arrivals chirp inquiringly,

“Have you any more for me?”

~ lisa-marie

4/6/09

orange daisy rests

on the black seat beside me

against my blue jeans  

the red poppy sings

joyously to the sun god

as it soaks up life

April is National Poetry Month. In celebration I'm going to try to write some new poems, share some old ones I wrote eons ago during my angst-ridden youth (and, yes, probably embarrass the heck out of myself in the process!), as well as post some of my favourite poems written by real poets, and a random poem from some of the books I own. I'm also going to participate in Poem in Your Pocket Day (April 30th), and snap a photo for the Free Verse Photo Competition. Stay tuned!!