TTT: Excerpts from new-to-me poems I like

Top Ten Tuesday: Excerpts from poems I've recently read and enjoyed

April is National Poetry Month. Today I am off-topic again, this time sharing portions of new-to-me poems I especially like. If possible I will provide a link to the whole poem. At minimum I will link the book where I found the poem. Enjoy!

...They won't see you coming

until you are there, in their faces, shining,

festive, expendable, eternal. Sure you're

small, just one small part of a storm that

changes everything. That's how you win, 

my friend, again and again and again.

                "Advice from a Raindrop" by Kim Stafford

                 The Wonder of Small Things: Poems of Peace & Renewal edited by James Crews

A tree in blossom is a passing cloud

that floats from some warmer place

then slows and snows itself away,

a blizzard of petals that will take

your breath away if you are there,..

                "In Early April" by Ted Kooser

                 The Wonder of Small Things: Poems of Peace & Renewal edited by James Crews

I'm from the Pacific Northwest.

A place where rain falls more than sun shines.

I'm from Douglas firs and pine trees.

Where we walk under waterfalls,

drive up windy roads to Mt. Hood,

and escape to the beaches of the Oregon coast.

                "Where I'm From" by Renée Watson

                 Black Girl You are Atlas by Renée Watson

A son moves out. A mama dies.

Polishing the shelves of the old closets,

you realize you didn't know what they were 

storing. It's unexplored territory,

the beautiful grief

of all this new space.

              "New" by Naomi Shihab Nye

              Grace Notes: Poems About Families by Naomi Shihab Nye

Dreams don't have timelines,

deadlines,

and aren't always in

straight lines.

                "For Everyone" by Jason Reynolds in book by the same name. The titled link is                  the author reciting/performing the poem. (Got 20 minutes? Watch it!)

When the squares of the week fill

with musts and shoulds,

when I swim in the heaviness of it,

the headlines, the fear and hate,

then with luck, something like a slice of moon

will arrive clean as a bone

and beside it on that dark slate

a star will lodge near the cusp

And with luck I will have you

to see it with...

 "When Life Seems a To-Do List" by Marjorie Saiser  
How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope edited by James Crews

...Whatever your grief,
however long you’ve carried it—
may something
come to you,
quick and unexpected,
whisk away
the bristled edge
in its sharp
and tender beak.

            "Goldfinches" by Danusha Lameris

           How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope edited by James Crews

It was your year of last things,

but you were luminous,

within those final fires.

            "Last Things -- Below Dante" by Michael Ondaatje

            A Year of Last Things: Poems by Michael Ondaatje

how many of you sitting

here

think some woman of color

Black Brown Yellow White

woke up this morning thinking

"Goooolly ... I can go to the airport

and clean toilets?"

Raise your right hand

           "Raise Your Hand (in favor of immigrants)" by Nikki Giovanni

            Make Me Rain: Poems and Prose by Nikki Giovanni

(In my sleep I dreamed this poem)

Someone I loved once gave me

a box full of darkness.

It took me years to understand

that this, too, was a gift.

            "The Uses of Sorrow" by Mary Oliver

            44 Poems on Being With Each Other curated by Pádraig Ó Tuama

I hope this post encourages you to read a few poems, or a volume of poems, this month. Let me make a few notes on the poets, the poems, or the volume of poetry where I found them --

• The Wonder of Small Things: Poems of Peace & Renewal  and How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope are two poetry books in a set of three edited by James Crews. Any of these books would be a perfect place to start if you want to read poetry you can understand. Plus most of the poems are only one page long or shorter.
• I learned about Nikki Giovanni's death when I was searching for a copy of her poem "Raise Your Hand (in favor of immigrants)" on the internet. She died in December of 2024. It made me sad to learn about her death. She had so much righteous anger. We could all use some of her in us these days. Make Me Rain: Poems and Prose was one of the last books she published, though I understand a collection of her favorite poems will be published this year sometime.
• Pádraig Ó Tuama's 44 Poems on Being With Each Other is my favorite type of book on poetry. It doesn't overwhelm me by including a thousand poems I don't understand. Rather it focuses on a few poems but gives them context and explanations for what the poet might have meant by using the phrasing, word chose, etc. I always learn a ton about poems and poetry from these types of books. "The Uses of Sorrow" seems like a simple poem until one scratches under the surface. Ó Tuama's analysis opened my eyes to what Oliver was probably saying with this poem about her own sorrow at losing a loved one. He said, "'The Uses of Sorrow' styles itself as instruction rather than justification, explanation, or confession. An instruction for what? For living: with sorrows we have; the sorrows that last; the ones that (demand!) attention."
• I really do encourage you to watch "For Everyone" by Jason Reynolds. Even if you just have a few minutes, watch a small portion of it. I know you will be moved by his enactment of a letter he wrote to himself. It truly is for everyone.
• It is fun to find geography and landmarks in poems that I recognize. I grew up in Oregon. I live in the Pacific Northwest. So imagine my delight when I found  "Where I'm From" by Renée Watson. I've been on that windy (wine-dy) road to Mt. Hood a ton of times and the Oregon coast is one of my favorite places on earth.

Do you have a favorite poem or poet? Please share them with me. Thank you.

-Anne