Monday, March 7, 2011

The Kama Sutra of Kindness: Position Number 3

A friend posted a poem on Facebook recently. It was beautiful. It was from the Writer's Almanac - a beautiful program courtesy of the fantastic Public Radio. I love hearing Garrison Keiller recite these poems on the NPR news...but I have not been listening to radio news of late, so this was a pleasant reminder of the Writer's Almanac.

I actually had never visited the web site for Writer's Almanac, which I just did and found the awesome archive they have of all of the poetry they read, much of it that I have missed hearing. If you like poetry, check it out by clicking on the link above. I picked a random date for this year, my birthday, just to see what poem was highlighted that day...and was pleasantly surprised to find that I really like the poem. It carries a lot of personal meaning for me...the best thing to find in a poem. You might like it too so I present it below for your consideration. It is about being in a relationship and loving for a lifetime. Click here to go directly to the poem on the Writer's Almanac site.

In case you don't know, April is National Poetry Month and I am planning to post a lot of poems during that month...so stay tuned...

The Kama Sutra of Kindness: Position Number 3

It's easy to love
through a cold spring
when the poles
of the willows
turn green
pollen falls like
a yellow curtain
and the scent of
Paper Whites
clots
the air

but to love for a lifetime
takes talent

you have to mix yourself
with the strange
beauty of someone
else
wake each morning
for 72,000
mornings in
a row so
breathed and
bound and
tangled
that you can hardly
sort out
your arms
and
legs

you have to
find forgiveness
in everything
even ink stains
and broken
cups

you have to be willing to move through
life
together
the way the long
grasses move
in a field
when you careen
blindly toward
the other
side

there's never going to be anything
straight or predictable
about your path
except the
flattening
and the springing
back

you just go on walking for years
hand in hand
waist deep in the weeds
bent slightly forward
like two question
marks
and all the while it

burns
my dear
it burns beautifully above
you
and goes on
burning
like a relentless
sun
"The Kama Sutra of Kindness: Position Number 3" by Mary Mackey, fromBreaking the Fever. © Marsh Hawk Press, 2006. Reprinted with permission. (buy now)

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