Poetry Friday

Chers Amis,

Fridays are for poetry. It is when we start to take off the practical suit of everyday reponsibilities and losen the belt of the 5-day work week, unbutton our imaginations and take a deep draught of peace and for a few moments abandon the world of prose. I enjoy Billy Collins (most of the time) because he is relaxed and wants the reader to experience the joy of poetry, not to "tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it. They begin beating it with a hose to find out what it really means. " -- Billy Collins, Introduction to Poetry. I like this poem because it talks about the joy we can find in our now, our present moment, our ordinary nights and days. I would love to know what poetry you like and why.

-- Marjorie

I Ask You

What scene would I want to be enveloped in
more than this one,
an ordinary night at the kitchen table,
floral wallpaper pressing in,
white cabinets full of glass,
the telephone silent,
a pen tilted back in my hand?

It gives me time to think
about all that is going on outside--
leaves gathering in corners,
lichen greening the high grey rocks,
while over the dunes the world sails on,
huge, ocean-going, history bubbling in its wake.

But beyond this table
there is nothing that I need,
not even a job that would allow me to row to work,
or a coffee-colored Aston Martin DB4
with cracked green leather seats.

No, it's all here,
the clear ovals of a glass of water,
a small crate of oranges, a book on Stalin,
not to mention the odd snarling fish
in a frame on the wall,
and the way these three candles--
each a different height--
are singing in perfect harmony.

So forgive me
if I lower my head now and listen
to the short bass candle as he takes a solo
while my heart
thrums under my shirt--
frog at the edge of a pond--
and my thoughts fly off to a province
made of one enormous sky
and about a million empty branches.

Billy Collins