PUT A POEM IN YOUR POCKET DAY
I've overthought the poem this year. About the mood and the language. I wanted to use some of my favorite poems (my friend Cheryl Clarke! or amazing Ralph Nazareth) but I thought I'd try GUEST POSTS this summer, for them and their poems. And use instead another favorite, Emily D. She speaks to one of the Big Themes I've struggled with forever. Forgiving. Forgetting. What we know. and What we remember. Here she is. Maybe for your pocket. She'll be in mine. ((Send me your poems too. I'm always glad to have as many poems as I can in my large pocket.))
Emily Dickinson, 1830 - 1886
Knows how to forget! But could It teach it? Easiest of Arts, they say When one learn how
Dull Hearts have died In the Acquisition Sacrificed for Science Is common, though, now —
I went to School But was not wiser Globe did not teach it Nor Logarithm Show
“How to forget”! Say — some — Philosopher! Ah, to be erudite Enough to know!
Is it in a Book? So, I could buy it — Is it like a Planet? Telescopes would know —
If it be invention It must have a Patent. Rabbi of the Wise Book Don’t you know? This poem is in the public