Jim Thompson’s Spiritual Poetry Class #26

Dear Proximate Paragons of Poetry:

Someone once pointed out that we are often coming or going but not necessarily staying put. The image of a revolving door or a merry-go-round seems apropos to my relationship with poetry and especially to poets. I learn of a new poet that I really like and then…well, read on.

• “Eating Poetry” by Mark Strand. I think this poem comes as close to describing how much I love engaging with poetry (and people who also engage with it!) as I can imagine. “There is no happiness like mine” is a big claim but I think I understand how the poet feels.
• Violence on Television” by Louis Jenkins. I just watched “The Trial of the Chicago 7” on Netflix and was filled with memories of living through that time.

The brilliant actor who played Tom Hayden seemed so so familiar. At the end I discovered it was Mark Rylance who twice has accepted awards by reading a Louis Jenkins poem and saying nothing more (you can google these). Mr. Jenkins’ poetry was recently introduced to me by a friend and I was thrilled to find that he lived in Duluth, Minnesota, a city I have visited many times. Now I find that Louis Jenkins died last year. Sad, but glad that he has written many more poems that I haven’t yet read. This one may strike you as weird at first but give it a chance — read it several times. I think it will grow on you as it did for me.

• “The Leash” by Ada Limón. A friend who was in our Move-Your-Money Cohort #1 (blatant shameless commercial for fighting climate change by getting out of climate-bad banks! Email me if you want to be part of a cool group!) gave me a book of Ada Limón’s poems as a thank-you. Hadn’t heard of this powerhouse woman of letters.

“…and we decide to walk for a bit longer…” This poem, like others of Ms. Limón’s makes me want to walk a bit longer.

I look forward to seeing some of you on Wednesday. As always, if any of you want to get off this mailing list, let me know. I will not take it personally.

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