"When I start to write, I'm not a guide or teacher; I'm not even a poet. I'm a person far out at sea, and the poem is a raft made of whatever floats past in the water. Those almost accidental rescuing pieces are words, rhythms, musics, ideas, the memory that is mine and the memory that is all of ours and the memory that is held in language itself. The experience of writing, for me at least, isn't confidence or wisdom; it's closer to desperation. There is that in us that recognizes: 'this is water; this is land.' A poem is land found, as if for the first time. If I already knew what it would hold, I wouldn't need the poem, and if what it holds were knowable by any other words or way, I wouldn't need the poem." Poetess Jane Hirshfield reflects on how writing with a spirit of openness and courage can offer a door into the mysteries of our inner and collective experiences. [Full Story]
A Poet's Take On The Mystery Of Existence
"When I start to write, I'm not a guide or teacher; I'm not even a poet. I'm a person far out at sea, and the poem is a raft made of whatever floats past in the water. Those almost accidental rescuing pieces are words, rhythms, musics, ideas, the memory that is mine and the memory that is all of ours and the memory that is held in language itself. The experience of writing, for me at least, isn't confidence or wisdom; it's closer to desperation. There is that in us that recognizes: 'this is water; this is land.' A poem is land found, as if for the first time. If I already knew what it would hold, I wouldn't need the poem, and if what it holds were knowable by any other words or way, I wouldn't need the poem." Poetess Jane Hirshfield reflects on how writing with a spirit of openness and courage can offer a door into the mysteries of our inner and collective experiences. [Full Story]
Posted by DailyGood.org
on May 24, 2013
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