I like the idea of having some lovely words somehow embedded in my brain, words that will just be part of me, part of the atmosphere of my thoughts. So, I have a plan to learn a new poem every year. Hopefully, that means I’ll find some new-to-me, wonderful writers and words.
Poem #1 The sweet, charming poem by e.e. cummings, “I Carry Your Heart With Me ,” seemed like the perfect poem to start with, since now I will carry it with me, and carry it in my heart.
Poem #2 Up next, I want to memorize and keep Albert Goldbarth’s “The Shawl,” mostly because I really connect with this phrase:
“He was discovering himself to be among the tribe that reads”
What a wonderful idea; “the tribe that reads”…
(plus, Goldbarth is pretty awesome, no?)
So many loved your moments of glad grace
And loved your beauty, with love false or true.
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face.
…and then I’ll sulk.
and then I’ll get over it;
resolution through total ambivalence.
and I,
and the fireplace,
and the coffee table
won’t have learnt one goddamned thing
between us.
this a lovely goal. what a wonderful idea to carry beautiful words with us everyday.
Meagan! This is such an awesome goal. In my senior AP English class we had to memorize a selection of poems and recite them to our teacher as part of our final exam. The only ones I still remember are the opening to Canterbury Tales and Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116.
“Let me not to the marriage of true minds // admit impediments….”