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City: Garland
State: Texas
Country: Usa
Member Since: September 2009
Last Login: 12/21/2013
Despite the encouragement and reassurance of my friends who create in this special way, I have a hard time thinking of myself as A POET. Never-the-less, I delight in attempting to string words together in a way that makes sense to me and hopefully to others. Quite often poetry can point to or hint at Reality more effectively than any straight forward description can. Skillfully crafted words and a well turned phrase, whether in prose, poetry, or a song are an absolute joy.
Some of my favorite poets in no particular order are Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Garth Hill, Billy Collins, Charlie Morgan, Mary Oliver, Glenn Currier, and Rumi.
Some of my favorite song writers (poets who set words to music) include Kris Kristofferson, Billy Joe Shaver, Tom T. Hall, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Robert Earl Keen, Guy Clark, John Prine, Merle Haggard, and Iris DeMent.
Bamboo shadows sweep the stairs,
Yet not a mote of dust is stirred;
Moonbeams pierce to the bottom of the pool,
Yet in the water not a trace remains.
-- from “The Zenrinkushu”
Wild Geese
by Mary Oliver
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
from Dream Work by Mary Oliver
published by Atlantic Monthly Press
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