Songs of hope and kindness
Poetry (pen) Pals #42
How can there be any other place for us to go this week? A few of these were shared at our Poetry Circle.. Paid subscribers, you’ll find a link to the recording at the bottom.
We were talking about kindness on the night but I think the two are perfectly linked, depending on and growing from each other. I hope you find a poem here you like.
This first one is ‘Small Kindnesses,’ by
. I find this poem exceptionally comforting.
One I’m sure many of us will be familiar with, this is ‘Kindness’ by Naomi Shihab Nye. The first line of this poem singing loud and clear currently.
I think about this last sentence a lot. “A little mercy in the tea.” This is ‘The Second Going’ by Phillip Levine.
Of course I had to include this classic. ‘“Hope” is the thing with feathers’ by Emily Dickinson.
The image of dancers using air as their material has not left me since I read this poem. ‘Tin Bucket’ by Jenny George.
There is of course, ‘A Litany for Survival’ by Audre Lorde, which can and should be read regularly.
And two more, because I can’t get enough. This is ‘Kindness’, by
:
And finally, In the Middle of the Eye, by Lucille Clifton:
A Writing Prompt for this week:
Have you ever tried to put your finger on what hope is? Ooh it’s a slippery beast.
I will tell you that I have. Numerous times. And numerous times I’ve not managed to get there. My most recent attempt came through a spot of journaling, leading to a sort of journal entry/poem the other morning, as I waited to hear confirmation of the US election results:
Gah, it’s not quite there though. Damn it.
I want to go again.
Hope is….what. What is it? It’s so important. It’s so necessary. It can feel so elusive. And yet I’ve felt it. I know I have.
Here are a few things I’ve been messing around with…
Thinking of a situation where hope was present. Writing about that.
The small (apparently inconsequential) moments where hope and kindness collide - I feel like they really matter. As per our writing circle.
Asking myself questions like, if hope was ‘an animal’ what would it be? A food? A song? An object in my garden? Getting as random and abstract as possible to see what might pop up to the surface.
Am I pushing too hard? Oh yes, most definitely. Is it complicated? Yep. Is it a bad thing to be focusing on hope right now? How can it be.
And as for sharing our glimmers of hope on Friday…
My goodness I hope so.
Nelly x