A picture is worth a thousand words (not accounting for inflation) so what about GIFs? And Poetry? How about a collection? Below is a smorgasbord of poems that are deliberately placed around these images, this week, this time, place, space, _ _ _ _ _ _ . Clickthrough for the source and attribution. Careful now, slippery slope this web log!
The 2 f’s
in giraffe
are like
2 giraffes
running through
the word giraffe +ron padgett
-the-one-that-is-a-walk.gif)
Since there is no place large enough
to contain so much happiness,
you shrug, you raise your hands, and it flows out of you
into everything you touch. You are not responsible.
You take no credit, as the night sky takes no credit
for the moon, but continues to hold it, and share it,
and in that way, be known. +naomi shihab nye
what did i see to be except myself?
i made it up
here on this bridge between
starshine and clay,
my one hand holding tight
my other hand; come celebrate
with me that everyday
something has tried +lucille clifton
for a second we are saved
by humble windfalls
of the mindfulness or memory:
the taste of a fruit, the taste of water,
that face given back to us by a dream,
the first jasmine of November, +jorge luis borges
‘As you are.’ says the universe.
‘After…’ you answer.
‘As you are.’ says the universe.
‘Before…’ you answer.
‘As you are.’ says the universe.
‘When…’ you answer.
‘As you are.’ says the universe.
‘How…’ you answer.
‘As you are.’ says the universe.
‘Why…’ you answer. +nayyirah waheed
I will wake you up early
with my heavy heartbeat.
You will say, Can’t we just sleep in, and I will say,
No, trust me. You don’t want to miss a thing. +sarah kay
You at the edges and shores,
in the rooms of quiet,
in the rooms of shouting,
in the airport terminal, at the bus depot saying
“No!” and each of us looking out from the
gorgeous unlikelihood of our lives at all,
finding ourselves here, witnesses to each other’s tenderness,
which, this moment, is fury, is rage, which, this moment, is another way of saying:
You are who I love You are who I love You and you and you are who +aracelis girmay
Faithful mother tongue,
perhaps after all it’s I who must try to save you.
So I will continue to set before you little bowls of colors
bright and pure if possible,
for what is needed in misfortune is a little order and beauty. +czeslaw milosz
i am running into a new year
and i beg what i love and
i leave to forgive me +lucille clifton
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend. +naomi shihab nye
A man crosses the street in rain,
stepping gently, looking two times north and south,
because his son is asleep on his shoulder.
No car must splash him.
No car drive too near to his shadow.
This man carries the world’s most sensitive cargo
but he’s not marked.
Nowhere does his jacket say FRAGILE,
HANDLE WITH CARE. +naomi shihab nye
Here I’ll go on saying, “I’m home!”
while you keep saying, “Welcome back!”
I’ll come back here again and again.
Here let’s drink hot tea.
Let’s sit here, you and I, and be caressed for a while
by the cool breeze. +shuntaro tanikawa
and I still don’t know: am I a falcon,
a storm, or a great song. +rainer maria rilke
yours sincerely + curiously in this not knowing,
maama asad
