How has the stay-at-home advisory altered your routine? Do you bother getting dressed for work? Most days, I’ve been lounging in my pajamas, slacking on my hair and makeup, and snacking at odd hours. I’ve been spending much more time with my husband, which is wonderful, but it means that he sees me without any of the preening I would normally do. When I encountered this poem at the end of March, I felt completely connected to the speaker and overcome with gratitude for my relationship. I had to share it with my husband:
Love Poem with Apologies for My Appearance
Sometimes, I think you get the worst
of me. The much-loved loose forest-green
sweatpants, the long bra-less days, hair
knotted and uncivilized, a shadowed brow
where the devilish thoughts do their hoofed
dance on the brain. I’d like to say this means
I love you, the stained white cotton T-shirt,
the tears, pistachio shells, the mess of orange
peels on my desk, but it’s different than that.
I move in this house with you, the way I move
in my mind, unencumbered by beauty’s cage.
I do like I do in the tall grass, more animal-me
than much else. I’m wrong, it is that I love you,
but it’s more that when you say it back, lights
out, a cold wind through curtains, for maybe
the first time in my life, I believe it.from The Carrying written by Ada Limón
published by Milkweed Editions in 2018
Within a few lines, poetry invites us to reflect on meaningful experiences and tap into deeper emotions. Why not embrace National Poetry Month among your efforts to cope with our rapidly changing world? April 2020 may present us with the ideal conditions for inserting greater introspection into our lives.
I’ve curated a sampling of poems from the Poetry Magazine website that seem pertinent to life in lockdown. Perhaps, these works will offer you the same type of comfort or insight that I have found in them.
If you’re getting stir-crazy from social distancing:
read the poem, “The Singing”
from the book, Elegy for a Broken Machine
written by Patrick Phillips
published by Alfred A. Knopf, 2015
read the poem, “The Lamp of Mutual Aid”
written by Joshua Edwards
read the poem, “Elegy”
from the book, Kingdom Animalia
written by Aricelis Grimay
published by BOA Editions, Ltd., 2011
read a portion of the poem, “Loss”
written by David Harsent
published in Poetry Magazine, 2019
read the poem, “Passengers”
from the book, Father’s Day
written by Matthew Zapruder
published by Copper Canyon Press, 2019
If you’re facing anxiety, turmoil, or loss:
read the poem, “Respiration”
written by Jamaal May
published in Poetry Magazine, 2016
read the poem, “Fox”
from the book, Falling Awake
written by Alice Oswald
published by W. W. Norton & Company Inc., 2016
read the poem, “Not This”
from the book, The Poem She Didn’t Write and Other Poems
written by Olena Kalytiak Davis
published by Copper Canyon Press, 2014
read the poem, “Opera Singer”
from the book, Bringing the Shovel Down
written by Ross Gay
published by University of Pittsburgh Press, 2011
read the poem, “The Wolves”
written by Paisley Rekdal
published in Poetry Magazine, 2016
read the poem “Ode to the Hotel Near the Children’s Hospital”
from the book, Dear Darkness
written by Kevin Young
published by Alfred A. Knopf, 2008
If you’re concerned for healthcare workers and people providing essential services:
read the poem, “The Pain Reliever”
written by Carrie Olivia Adams
published in PoetryNow, 2018
read the poem, “Minimum Wage”
from the book, Wonderland
written by Matthew Dickman
published by W. W. Norton & Company Inc., 2018
read the poem, “Obit”
by Victoria Chang
published in Poetry Magazine, 2018
read the poem, “We’re Building the Boat as We Sail It”
by Kay Ryan
published in Poetry Magazine, 2006
If you have read an inspiring or enlightening poem, please share it in the comments section of this blog. There may be others who benefit from your literary support in this challenging time.
– by Kathleen, WFPL Children’s Librarian
Watertown Free Public Library Blog 