Poems for your Monday 💗

Creative Monday Boost #2

The feeling of a poem, sometimes | painting by Brianne

Hello, dear friends,

Here we are again, with a creative boost for our Monday, that day that keeps coming. (And thank goodness it does.)

Today, I want to offer up POETRY as a portal for you.

A comfort.

An escape.

A delight.

A reassurance.

A dose of words, spoon-fed from one human mouth to another.

Some of you are thinking YESSSSSSS.

Others of you might be thinking, as my son would say: Meh.

Poetry is not for me.

I heard someone once describe the variations of poetry as being as varied as music. (I wish I could remember who said this.) After all, we wouldn’t say, “Music is not for me.” Sure, you might not like some kinds of music, a genre or band that lots of people dig, but saying music is not for you? That seems silly.

Ditto on poetry.

It’s a matter of finding the poems that your particular human self loves.

I am still learning what kind of poems I love, but at the moment, I like best poems that make immediately sense, that give me a delicious ah-ha, that feel like a tiny gift package of words. (I haven’t gotten into the epic book-length poems, but maybe that time is coming.)

If I read a poem and I’m utterly confused, that’s not a great place to be. What is happening here? Did I not get the decoder ring? Did I miss a bunch of literary references and insider jokes? (Entirely possible.)

But there are so many poets who are not trying to shut us out.

They are inviting us in.

Poets are helping us cope with the ups and downs of life, of illness, of surprise, of grief, of all the human things.

Take these lines, by the sublime poet Andrea Gibson:

When I realized the storm
was inevitable, I made it
my medicine.

Took two snowflakes
on the tongue in the morning,
two snowflakes on the tongue
by noon.

There were no side effects.
Only sound effects. Reverb
added to my lifespan,
an echo that asked—

What part of your life’s record is skipping?
What wound is on repeat?
Have you done everything you can
to break out of that groove?

— Andrea Gibson, excerpt from How the Worst Day of My Life Became the Best

Here are a few more poems, some silly, some short, some encouraging, some comforting. Pick one — or read them all:

• The Rain is Why I Live in Seattle (4 short poems) by

  Sherman Alexie

• Cheerios by Billy Collins

• In the chemo room, I wear mittens made of ice so I don’t lose my fingernails. But I took a risk today to write this down. by Andrea Gibson

• Instead of Depression by Andrea Gibson

• The Summer Day by Mary Oliver

• Give Me This by Ada Limón

• Where the Words Go by Rebecca Sturgeon

• The Dream Keeper by Langston Hughes

• How Dark the Beginning by

  Maggie Smith

• Happiness by Jane Kenyon

I hope a poem or two makes your week a bit brighter.

To our journeys,
Brianne

p.s. Do you have favorite poems or ones that come to mind in this moment? Please do share!

p.s.a. A few wonderful poets with newsletters, to deliver more poems to you regularly:

Rebecca Sturgeon: Sign up for Our Daily Breath newsletter

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