Friday, February 27, 2009
Poetry Friday on Pep Talk Week: Optimism
Tenacity, optimism, persistence, hope, resilience: aren't these the best words for when you feel drained of anything that can propel you on the path that you thought you wanted to take?
Optimism
by Jane Hirshfield
More and more I have come to admire resilience.
Not the simple resistance of a pillow, whose foam returns over and
over to the same shape, but the sinuous tenacity of a tree:
Here is the rest of the poem.
Poetry Friday Roundup is at Mommy's Favorite Children's Books this week.
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13 comments:
Yat-Yee, I love this one! Looking at nature always fills me up again when I'm feeling beaten down.
The resilience must be catching ...
Yay, optimism! Yay, Jane Hirshfield (she has my birthday)! Yay, Yat-Yee!
That's my pep talk :)
As a city girl, I wasn't expecting the tie in to nature. Pleasantly surprised. Thanks for the read.
I love the everyday images, of pillows and trees. Somehow, the reminder of how trees (and all the other things mentioned) possess such persistence and flexibility has touched me, city girl that I am too.
Great poem, but what interests me even more is Jane Hirshfield's life. She knew from 1st grade that she would be a writer and yet she DID NOT WRITE for the 8 years she studied Buddhism. THAT'S tenacity!!!
Yat Yee thank you for sharing this today. I just emailed it to my brother and the rest of my family. We really need to hear it! Turning toward the light...
This makes me think of tree pose from yoga. I've loved all the Jane Hirshfield poems I've encountered so far, and I admire her personal resilience. Anyone who can work figs and mitochondria into the same poem is adaptable, to say the least! :)
I love Jane Hirschfield, too. And isn't the Writer's Almanac a great resource? I love it, love it.
I almost used a poem from there today, too!
That's funny, I was thinking of the yoga tree pose too! May we all be optimists and resilient!
"all this resinous, unretractable earth"
Wow. Great pick, Yat-Yee. I love reading poems I've not seen before. And will be coming back to this one. I love how she established her metaphor so soundly that one might not have realized it, but for the title!
Thanks, Yat-Yee, for sharing this. I emailed it to a friend -- and cc'd myself; would like to keep this one close at hand.
I am glad this poem has been shared beyond our circle at Poetry Friday. Power of so few words (yes, including figs and mitochondria!)
As a poetry Philistine, I don't know much about many poets, Jane Hirshfield included. I am so thankful for Poetry Friday.
Thanks for dropping by!
its amazing that some people can write poetry.
Me, i can only appreciate those message. At least some time if it is well written.
Good day
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