Just wanted to mention this book, my favorite poetry book, actually: Winter Morning Walks, by the former US Poet Laureate Ted Kooser.
The book begins on November 9, and the poem is so fitting for the day we are having here, rainy and cold. The first line grabs me: "the sky hangs thin and wet on its clothesline..." Exactly how our sky looks today.
Mr. Kooser wrote these poems as postcards to his friend Jim Harrison, a poem each day for 100 days, usually written after his walk in the early mornings of a Midwest winter. He was being treated for cancer at the time, and I think this added deeper import to his words and thoughts as he walked and observed and absorbed the world around him.
Each year, I pick up this book on November 9, and read a poem each day, following in Kooser's footsteps on his uncertain, hopeful, determined journey through the winter and his treatments. The poems are short, most not even a full page, but each is like a sudden, surprising sparkle of sun on an icicle. It is a pleasure I look forward to every year.
I will have to look for it.
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice tradition you have, and it sounds like a wonderful book. I'll keep my eye out for a copy. Have a lovely Sunday!
ReplyDelete...at first I thought that we were going for a walk.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds amazing. I would so cherish 100 days of poem postcards sent to me by a good friend.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great little book. I need to get back into poetry reading. Have lots of good books. Maybe this should be an addition.
ReplyDeleteI have requested the book at the library. However, there's only one in the state of MD. I hope they can find it.
ReplyDeleteWonderful way to get through the first dreary days of autumn and winter.
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