Kate Baer, from And Yet: Poems; “Idea”
[Text ID: “I will enjoy this life. I will open it like a peach in season, suck the juice from every finger, run my tongue over my chin. I will not worry about clichés or uninvited guests peering in my windows. I will love and be loved. Save and be saved a thousand times. I will let the want into my body, bless the heat under my skin. My life, I will not waste it. I will enjoy this life.”]
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"Some long-forgot, enchanted, strange,
Sweet garden of a thousand years ago,"
~ Edna St. Vincent Millay, from "Interim"
via southerncrossreview.org
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“In a world so rife with vulgarity, with brutality and violence, love exists. I'm grateful to know that it exists.”
— Maya Angelou, “Rainbow in the Cloud: The Wit and Wisdom of Maya Angelou”
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The Silent Voice, Gerald Moira (1898)
When the dumb Hour, clothed in black,
Brings the Dreams about my bed,
Call me not so often back,
Silent Voices of the dead,
Toward the lowland ways behind me,
And the sunlight that is gone!
Call me rather, silent voices,
Forward to the starry track
Glimmering up the heights beyond me
On, and always on!
— The Silent Voices, Alfred Lord Tennyson (1892)
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Black History Month
Maya Angelou (American, 1928-2014)
Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit
a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woma
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
from And Still I Rise • Copyright © 1978
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out of sync
In the dance of forgotten lovers, we twirl as strangers, our steps out of sync, our hearts distant echoes.
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rain, by raymond carver, 1996
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Can we just we just talk about the symbolism of this poem real quick ???? It’s INSANE ! Like we can all agree this poem is about Sue right???
“the heaven is what i cannot reach” = SUE and since Emily cannot truly be with Sue because well …. [we all know why :( ]. In other words, Emily’s “heaven” is something she will never be able to reach
“The apple on the tree” = Sue being the forbidden fruit that Emily cannot have because well ... [ AGAIN we know why :( ] and the fact that it’s always just out of Emily’s reach 🥺
“That heaven is to me” = again Sue herself and just being with Sue is her idea of “heaven”
AND the LAST TWO LINES!
“Behind the hill, the house behind - there paradise is found” = the fact that Sue lived next door to Emily, so Emily’s “paradise” was always literally RIGHT NEXT TO HER; however, she could never fully enjoy “paradise” but always knew where it could be found
SOBBING 😭
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Kate Baer, from And Yet: Poems; “40”
[Text ID: “because sometimes it is easier to / write yourself out of the play / than to face another breakfast.”]
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“Sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think, I'm not going to make it, but you laugh inside — remembering all the times you've felt that way.”
— Charles Bukowski, “Gamblers All”
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