Loved this. I am drawn to kindness and eyes that smile. Children naturally drawn to being in the present moment are my teachers. I’ll be pondering this, as it feels soft and life affirming. How you see and interpret your surroundings intrigues me. Xo💜🙌🏼
Ps- I love the play with the word Drawn- I anticipated/hoped for it as the stanzas built, and felt the joy in recognition that you pulled it off/rewarded at the end:) from drawn to/pulled , to ✍️ drawn by. 😍
& to answer your question after your glorious poem, about writing … I haven’t had a feeling of “catching” words when I write, though I do have a feeling of reading the words down onto the page, or listening to a conversation between two characters and transcribing it.
Oh, I LOVE that description! It speaks to how much we, as writers, need to be listeners and observers first and foremost. Gorgeous alchemy. Thank you so much for sharing that.
Beautiful, stunning, just in time and what I needed to read, poetry this morning. Thank you for sharing these wind blown words!!
Sometimes I catch words in that in-between place, just as I’m falling asleep or in the shower. Wherever our minds go when they’re not inundated with every day life, that seems to be where my favorite words live. Poetry sometimes floats towards me, taunting me a little bit, daring me to steal time for the words.
Regrettably, I sometimes let them float on by and when I do, I feel the missing and wonder where they went.
Anyway, thank you for something beautiful to focus on today. I’m so glad you’re here. Xoxo
Thank you, Mesa! God, it's so important to let our minds inhabit that in-between place, isn't it? I think you're right about the words finding us there most often. I imagine that's why they found me on the boat-- I was just lost in the landscape, not really thinking about anything at all, when this blew in. I needed that reminder! I'm also so glad that you're here. xoxo
Mmm.... words do find Poets, the way beautiful sea polished stones find me, and filtered fans of light in forests.
Some of my best work (by which I mean - work where I felt that I said exactly what I needed to say) has come to me almost fully formed. I think it all happens in the subconscious, while your conscious mind is focussed on other things....
For me - time in nature. For you also, it seems...
I mean, this comment is poetic, Dave! I think you're right about the secret workings of the subconscious. It really is so important to be in spaces that allow those thoughts to surface.
I am drawn into your poem by the gracefulness and quietness of your imagery and the progression from the effect on you of your subjects to you as subject. A really good well-constructed poem; the best I've read in ages.
The making of such a poem is visceral and very intimate - an intense experience.
Wow, thank you so much, Kate. I'm so pleased that you caught the progression in subject matter- that was fun to write. And your words are just incredibly affirming. xx
Kendall, you are such a gift. It always brightens my day when your name pops up in my email box. This poem is delicious. After the first time through, I had to turn the music off and read again, savoring, several times. I LOVE the ending - "the faint outline of forgotten wings daring to catch the light"...so beautiful and resonant. 🥲
Oh my goodness, there is nothing better than to be told that my name in your inbox brightens your day, followed by the knowledge that you read and reread this poem with such care. Thank you, thank you. I'm going to carry that around all day long. xo
I have always experienced poems as “arriving” from some other unknown place. I need to urgently honour them by writing them down immediately - or they leave and don’t return.
I think they are like dreams and dream memory, arising from the so-called unconscious. If you don't write down a dream, or at least take time to consciously go through it again, straight away, it will be impossible to remember.
Gosh Kendall, your talent is boundless. I echo what others have said. I get an electric buzz of excitement when I see you've posted something because I know there is a really beautiful treat waiting for me and I am always sure to save opening it for when I know it will have my undivided attention. Never disappoints. Magic.
I've never been one for poems before finding your work, although as I write that inside something yells at me that I'm lying. Anyway.
OMG. The circle from caterpillar to hinted-at butterfly. The everything-fleeting-ness of captured moments. The water-centric nature (hahaha) of much of this. The structure reminds me in a far-off way of the "I am from" poems so often assigned in English class.
As far as your opening question goes, I've never thought about that rush of words as something moving towards/through me even when I argue with myself about whether to get out of bed, or leave the cockpit, or stop listening to a podcast to find something to write it down with. And now I know - yes, yes, yes, grab it as fast as you can. I love that part in Big Magic but always dismissed it as something that happens to other people, never realizing the heart=pounding sit up straight in bed occurrences are (maybe?) that for me.
Ha! I love that something in you is yelling at you that you're lying. I resonate completely with this- I haven't really immersed myself in poetry until recently, and suddenly it feels vital. And thank you for pointing out the circular nature of this poem- I'm never sure what will reveal itself to readers, so I'm delighted that you caught that.
I also absolutely believe that the nagging sensation to get out of bed and write things down is the magic whipping through. And I think it can happen to anyone who's listening! The heart-pounding is a sure fire sign. I love this!
Loved this. I am drawn to kindness and eyes that smile. Children naturally drawn to being in the present moment are my teachers. I’ll be pondering this, as it feels soft and life affirming. How you see and interpret your surroundings intrigues me. Xo💜🙌🏼
I bet your eyes smile, Joanie. Thank you thank you. 🙏✨💜
Ps- I love the play with the word Drawn- I anticipated/hoped for it as the stanzas built, and felt the joy in recognition that you pulled it off/rewarded at the end:) from drawn to/pulled , to ✍️ drawn by. 😍
Thank you so much- I love that you were hoping for/anticipating that turn!
SO MUCH THIS.
Gorgeous. Goosebumps. Delight.
& to answer your question after your glorious poem, about writing … I haven’t had a feeling of “catching” words when I write, though I do have a feeling of reading the words down onto the page, or listening to a conversation between two characters and transcribing it.
Oh, I LOVE that description! It speaks to how much we, as writers, need to be listeners and observers first and foremost. Gorgeous alchemy. Thank you so much for sharing that.
Beautiful, stunning, just in time and what I needed to read, poetry this morning. Thank you for sharing these wind blown words!!
Sometimes I catch words in that in-between place, just as I’m falling asleep or in the shower. Wherever our minds go when they’re not inundated with every day life, that seems to be where my favorite words live. Poetry sometimes floats towards me, taunting me a little bit, daring me to steal time for the words.
Regrettably, I sometimes let them float on by and when I do, I feel the missing and wonder where they went.
Anyway, thank you for something beautiful to focus on today. I’m so glad you’re here. Xoxo
Thank you, Mesa! God, it's so important to let our minds inhabit that in-between place, isn't it? I think you're right about the words finding us there most often. I imagine that's why they found me on the boat-- I was just lost in the landscape, not really thinking about anything at all, when this blew in. I needed that reminder! I'm also so glad that you're here. xoxo
You dear Kendall, are just growing wonderful wings.
Well, some people are showing me how to fly. ;) xx
That is so wonderful... it shows.
I am drawn to owls resting outside my window on the branch of a pine,
dancing chubby with their young,
fleeting, whispering wisdom through the ages,
"Who" they say, "will make note of the beauty the dawn brings?"
Oh, how perfectl, Esther. You have made such beauty of what the dawn brings! Thank you.
Mmm.... words do find Poets, the way beautiful sea polished stones find me, and filtered fans of light in forests.
Some of my best work (by which I mean - work where I felt that I said exactly what I needed to say) has come to me almost fully formed. I think it all happens in the subconscious, while your conscious mind is focussed on other things....
For me - time in nature. For you also, it seems...
Best Wishes - Dave :)
I mean, this comment is poetic, Dave! I think you're right about the secret workings of the subconscious. It really is so important to be in spaces that allow those thoughts to surface.
Even before you got to the actual poem you were writiing in poetry. I love what you write.
Thank you, Jane. 💜
I am drawn into your poem by the gracefulness and quietness of your imagery and the progression from the effect on you of your subjects to you as subject. A really good well-constructed poem; the best I've read in ages.
The making of such a poem is visceral and very intimate - an intense experience.
Wow, thank you so much, Kate. I'm so pleased that you caught the progression in subject matter- that was fun to write. And your words are just incredibly affirming. xx
Kendall, you are such a gift. It always brightens my day when your name pops up in my email box. This poem is delicious. After the first time through, I had to turn the music off and read again, savoring, several times. I LOVE the ending - "the faint outline of forgotten wings daring to catch the light"...so beautiful and resonant. 🥲
Oh my goodness, there is nothing better than to be told that my name in your inbox brightens your day, followed by the knowledge that you read and reread this poem with such care. Thank you, thank you. I'm going to carry that around all day long. xo
❤️❤️❤️
Drawn to the witching hour ✨ not unlike my draw to your poems, prose and everything in between.
Thank you, friend. 🙏🥰😭❤
Love the shift from "I am drawn to" to "I am drawn."
Thank you, Beth! I do love a turn. ;)
It was a good one!
Thank you for catching poems for us, Kendall. And off the bow of a boat! Most excellent.
Always listening on those boats, Mary Beth!
I have always experienced poems as “arriving” from some other unknown place. I need to urgently honour them by writing them down immediately - or they leave and don’t return.
Thank you for sharing that, Mary! I'm so intrigued by this. Why the urgency? Will we ever know??
I think they are like dreams and dream memory, arising from the so-called unconscious. If you don't write down a dream, or at least take time to consciously go through it again, straight away, it will be impossible to remember.
Gosh Kendall, your talent is boundless. I echo what others have said. I get an electric buzz of excitement when I see you've posted something because I know there is a really beautiful treat waiting for me and I am always sure to save opening it for when I know it will have my undivided attention. Never disappoints. Magic.
That is the absolute kindest thing to say, Sabrina. Straight to my heart. Thank you so, so much.
I've never been one for poems before finding your work, although as I write that inside something yells at me that I'm lying. Anyway.
OMG. The circle from caterpillar to hinted-at butterfly. The everything-fleeting-ness of captured moments. The water-centric nature (hahaha) of much of this. The structure reminds me in a far-off way of the "I am from" poems so often assigned in English class.
As far as your opening question goes, I've never thought about that rush of words as something moving towards/through me even when I argue with myself about whether to get out of bed, or leave the cockpit, or stop listening to a podcast to find something to write it down with. And now I know - yes, yes, yes, grab it as fast as you can. I love that part in Big Magic but always dismissed it as something that happens to other people, never realizing the heart=pounding sit up straight in bed occurrences are (maybe?) that for me.
Ha! I love that something in you is yelling at you that you're lying. I resonate completely with this- I haven't really immersed myself in poetry until recently, and suddenly it feels vital. And thank you for pointing out the circular nature of this poem- I'm never sure what will reveal itself to readers, so I'm delighted that you caught that.
I also absolutely believe that the nagging sensation to get out of bed and write things down is the magic whipping through. And I think it can happen to anyone who's listening! The heart-pounding is a sure fire sign. I love this!