Reading Poetry while on a Camping Trip

One of my favorite activities is to read poetry out loud to my camping partner, or to myself, in the woods, when my mind is cleared of the distractions of electronics, life’s petty minutiae, and its big struggles, not to mention the news.

What is left is resting my eyes on a non linear forest, large old growth trees following their own way in the forest, with lush green ferms and other undergrowth filling the rest of my vision. Or allowing the logs of the beach to overwhelm me with their unexpected arrangements. Sculptors must always despair when they look at nature. How can they possibly compete.

Or gazing far out to sea and adjusting to subtle shades of grey, silver, and tawny browns on an overcast day (much more restful than sunshine). Although on this trip I was overcome with sadness, as I looked at the petrified trees (ancient enormous trees whose roots are like huge snarling birds or beasts or smaller, smoother pieces that are calm resigned sea otters and bears)  warning us of the apocalypse we are creating on our planet. In their whiteness, barely emerging from the sand, is the end of our world.

So,to return to my theme,  I took three types of poetry on this trip,

First I had

Beloved Community, the Sisterhood of Homeless Women in Poetry, poetry by women who are or were homeless , some of the poems the result of workshops run by SHARE/WHEEL, an empowerment project for homeless women. SHARE stands for Seattle Housing and Resource Effort, WHEEL stands for Women Housing and Enhancement League. The link is to an excellent review with several quotes from the poets.

Second I had

the most recent issue of Calyx, a Journal of Art and Literature by Women that has been going for 36 years and just has transitioned to a new editor very successfully. This journal has poetry, short fiction, art work, and in this issue interviews and a essay honoring Audre Lorde. Here is a link to an excerpt. 

Third I had

The most recent issue of the New Yorker, which had only two poems. one called The Cello by Ruth Padel , and Eggs by Kay Ryan, coincidentally both women.

So all of this was poetry by women.

As I read some random poems in Beloved Community, about being cold, about being in the street, about being on the edge of life, all of the words were strong, all of the images clear. It was really affecting.

As I read the poetry from Calyx about women at different stages of their lives, experiencing various crisis or change, I was also deeply affected. I felt a sense of beauty and deep feeling in these poems.

As I read the two poems from the New Yorker,  the pinnacle of publishing for a poet, I had to read them over and over. The first one called The Cello by Ruth Padel was full of images that, for me, didn’t cohere. The second, Eggs, by Kay Ryan, was much more compelling, short, coherent, and full of a sense of profound loss. But no stronger in its emotion than many of the poems in Beloved Community or Calyx.

This blog,  Art and Politics Now, is dedicated to celebrating women who are homeless  and overcome life’s adversity to write poetry, or women who are less known and will probably never publish in the New Yorker but who have a voice that sings.  One of the two poets in the New Yorker, Kay Ryan, has won a Pulitzer prize and been poet laureate of the US,  She is definately a great poet and I will read more poems by her.

But overall, I want to emphasize that ordinary people are brilliant, but they don’t have time to think about it, because they are just filled with the act of getting through their lives.

As my friend Anitra Freeman (one of the poets in Beloved Community and an editor of Real Change News, another homeless empowerment project) declared, it makes you really sad to think of all the amazing talent that is lost because of life’s difficulties.   Among the homeless population are many many poets. Among the population in general are many poets. The tiny group that publish in the New Yorker are accomplished poets, but they are certainly not the only ones!!!!