Is there comfort in company?
These are lines from Mary Oliver’s poem The Journey:
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
So I gather Mary Oliver knows something about struggling at fundamental levels.
As I have repeated the words over and over, I have asked myself this - does my basic need for company and mutual sharing stretch into the area of suffering? If I am in pain, am I comforted by yours?
Hard questions to answer.
I found your beautiful blog through Beth Kephart's site, and am glad she wrote about you. I'm also a fan of Mary Oliver's poetry, and "The Journey" (along with "Wild Geese") is a favorite of mine.
ReplyDeleteI run a weekly poetry appreciation series on my blog, and hope you'll stop in for a visit sometime!
I think we find comfort in each other's human. To know we are all potentially strong, and yet so vulnerable, it is a fortifying thing.
ReplyDeleteI'm here by way of Beth. Nice to meet you.
xo
erin
Grete meet Aaron (www.unstressedsyllables.com)--his post today about poetry mirrors your mission. We're all kindred spirits in love with the craft. As an outloud poetry reader and memorizer, I know the power poetry. Its lyrical, incantatory rhythms can save a soul--or at least it can/does save mine.
ReplyDeleteI read in a tweet yesterday that a mere 8% of Americans read poetry--I hope your stats are better in Norway. Perhaps your blog will help lift the number higher at least. I know I'm inspired by your writing.
(I found your blog via Beth Kephart's post and am thankful for it.)
Cheers.
Cindy -
ReplyDeleteYes, Mary Oliver is a favorite, and a blessing. And thanks for inviting me over to your corner of the virtual world!
Erin -
Strong and vulnerable at the same time, that certainly is humanity! And nice to meet you as well!
Shelly -
Thanks for directing me to Aaron’s site!
The power of the poem is undefined, but real. Yet so many people find poetry difficult, or uninteresting, or irrelevant or..... I suspect a reason for our prejudices is largely due to us reading with the wrong part of our brains. Somehow we tend to mistake a poem for a mathematical riddle.....
I am not sure the exact number of Norwegians reading poetry, but I would not be surprised at a figure like yours. And I am not sure Norwegians read this blog. It is after all in English :-) Perhaps I should make a Norwegian version....
Grete