Thursday, April 17, 2008

national poetry month 2008

april is national poetry month - who knew this? today, april 17, is "poem in your pocket day."
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The idea is simple: select a poem you love during National Poetry Month then carry it with you to share with co-workers, family, and friends on April 17.

Poems from pockets will be unfolded throughout the day with events in parks, libraries, schools, workplaces, and bookstores
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new york city hosts the 6th annual "poem in your pocket day." the highlight is a gathering of poets and like minded souls at the byrant park reading room today.

in case your wondering, the poem i'm carrying around today is:

John Muir on Mt. Ritter

After scanning its face again and again,
I began to scale it, picking my holds
With intense caution. About half-way
To the top, I was suddenly brought to
A dead stop, with arms outspread
Clinging close to the face of the rock
Unable to move hand or foot
Either up or down. My doom
Appeared fixed.
I MUST fall.
There would be a moment of
Bewilderment, and then,
A lifeless rumble down the cliff
To the glacier below.
My mind seemed to fill with a
Stifling smoke. This terrible eclipse
Lasted only a moment, when life blazed
Forth again with preternatural clearness.
I seemed suddenly to become possessed
Of a new sense. My trembling muscles
Became firm again, every rift and flaw in
The rock was seen as through a microscope,
My limbs moved with a positiveness and precision
With which I seemed to have
Nothing at all to do.

from Myths & Texts (1960)

gary snyder

2 comments:

peter said...

My poem will have to be Grass by Sandburg. Shovel them under and let me work.

Thanks for stopping in. I found the Overy book revealing in that it pointed out that when the Germans controlled an empire in 1942 running from Spain to the Steppes, North Africa to Norway, they potentially had an economic powerhouse the equal of the Allies, with interior lines. They never exploited it in a productive way, fortunately.

rundangerously said...

thanks peter,

the allies also had the ultra decrpts, which signnificantly contributed to victory!