Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by Mary Lee at A YEAR OF READING, here. Thank you, Mary Lee, for hosting! Be sure to stop by to discover what poetry she has for us today.
This week, it seemed unreal that I was going to a friend’s house for a small gathering. It was lovely to sit around a table without masks, as we all had been completely vaccinated. It was warm outside and it seemed winter was over. Perhaps we were like owls having survived a forest fire, coming forth from the haze. Besides an owl, I thought of another creature to compare us to.
Later, I wrote this:
CHECKING ON SPRING Today at someone else's kitchen table, mask-less, nibbling on bagels: post vaccination party. After a year of solitude, we seemed more groundhog than human, fresh from our dens, eyes round and searching for signs that winter will not return, but in the chatter, I saw or heard nothing definitive. © Janice Scully 2021
This came in the mail today: Naomi Shihab Nye’s EVERYTHING COMES NEXT. As I read, I was struck by how powerful the beginnings of her poems are.
Whether it be prose, a poem or a play, the beginning has to convince the reader to read on. As Billy Collins says in his MasterClass, the beginning of a poem has to welcome you in and make you feel safe in the hands of the poet. And it has to do more, of course. It has to give a reader the impression that what comes next is well worth the reader’s time.
Nye’s beginnings in this book surprised me, which is something else I love in a great poem. I’ll share two fabulous beginnings from this amazing book. Even with such short excerpts by Nye below, what surprised you? When you read them, do you want to read more?
WEDDING CAKE
Once on a plane
a woman asked me to hold her baby
and disappeared.
I figured it was safe,
our being on a plane and all.
How far could she go?
She returned one hour later . . . .
___________________
CAT PLATE
That’s what we used to do in our house,
says Lydia, when we were mad at our dad–
we served him on the cat plate.. . . .
There are many more poems in this book and they all draw you in right away, surprise you and teach about craft as well: how to welcome a reader and hook them so they keep reading.
Here’s another beginning by Nye:
THE ART OF DISAPPEARING
When they say, Don’t I know you?
say no.
____________________
I hope you all have a great weekend, and may we gradually enjoy more time with friends and family, mask-less, not socially distanced, when we’re vaccinated and it’s safe.
What is Poetry Friday? Learn more about it here.
Beginnings are fun. It’s the endings that get me. And look at me, writing haiku this month, where the poem is 1/3 beginning and 1/3 ending! Yikes! What was I thinking?
Naomi Shihab Nye is a great mentor poet. I love the leads you picked — all surprising in different ways.
Thanks, Mary Lee. I’m looking forward to your haiku beginnings and endings. 🙂
Hi Janice,
I am early this week and glad for it! I loved the Naomi Shihab Nye book intro and thinking about those poem beginnings. I did like them and I did want very much to read more. Right away. It is strange to venture out these days, doesn’t it? And then maskless in someone’s home, around a table. Yikes. I keep thinking it took me a while to adjust to the masks and the isolation and now it will take a bit to switch gears once we can. I love April here and everywhere. I am challenging myself more and am going to make the leap into a blog if I can manage to do it asap, nothing fancy but a place to start. Eventually I will have to hire someone to help me make it jazzier because I worry about my low tech skills. Would love to hear how you felt about Billy Collins’ Master Class. I just finished a 3 week session with Georgia Heard and the topic was on writing in new forms and I am glad I did it. Hope we can be in touch soon.
That’s great you took Georgia’s class. I’m glad you enjoyed it. Let’s meet in Skan when it warms up again. Would love that.
Wonderful!
We are a bit like groundhogs coming up from hibernation, aren’t we? I heard a podcast with Naomi Shahib Nye recently, and she read Wedding Cake in her beautiful deep voice. Love the beginnings you shared–Cat Plate made me laugh.
Glad to hear your gathering. I can imagine the strangeness and the joy of it.
Ad you are right, these are such rich openings. Thank you for sharing.
Ha! Groundhogs, indeed. I love that analogy. Let’s cross our fingers that a whole generation of young people are motivated to study epidemiology and public health. Thanks for the Naomi Shihab Nye . She is a poet I trust to take me on a journey. I love the surprises you shared here. Wonderful post. Thank you!
I think young people will study public health. Think of all they have learned about science even as they missed school.
The idea of us emerging, like groundhogs, is not only an analogy, I really believe it’s fact, Janice. I’m glad you had your time “at someone else’s kitchen table” – a line we all wish were ours! I just finished Nye’s Cast Away, now will find this one, too. Her beginnings do draw us in. What about that baby’s mother? Where could she have gone for an hour? Happy Poetry Month!
Hi Janice, thank you for sharing Naomi’s collection which includes some dear old poem-friends and lots of new ones that I promptly added to my writing notebook. Her beginnings are clearly scenes that have enlivened her curiosity, and it’s a joy to see where these explorations lead… and I notice many times they lead to questions, as her endings are often full of questions, which I adore! Thank you for sharing!
I read your groundhog poem and thought, Yes! That’s me, waking from a long sleep and looking forward to more happy gatherings around kitchen tables. Thanks for the hopeful glimpse of yours.
What a treat to gather with friends, your poem describes this new freedom well, and I like how you compared it with a groundhog coming out of their den.
Thanks also for sharing Naomi Shihab Nye’s book, love the poems and beginnings you shared–I definitely want to read on!
I like your poem (and your metaphor) so much. And what intriguing beginnings! NSN’s poems are always a treat.
Woohoo for your “post vaccination party”, Janice. I love learning from amazing poets like Naomi Shihab Nye. Her ‘Wedding Cake’ opening is so intriguing, I want to know more. 🙂
Naomi’s beginnings do draw me in and make me want to read more! I struggle most with writing endings, though. The ending to your poem is just perfect–we are all looking for signs this past year is truly past, but so far no definitive answers.
After a year of solitude,/we seemed more groundhog /than human,/fresh from our dens=>This is so true, a great comparison! Thanks for sharing Naomi’s mentor texts. I do love her writing.
Slowly but surely we are all emerging, like groundhogs! Thanks for your poem and for getting me thinking again about the importance of beginnings.
Your post-vaccine party poem reminded me of xkcd’s post vaccine party comic: https://xkcd.com/2437/ It’s an adjustment, for sure! (Not that I would know, as I only got my first shot yesterday, haha! I am looking forward to finding out. :-))
That’s a funny comic!
Naomi gets into the action right quick, doesn’t she–I’m not sure she DOES make the reader feel that they’re in trustworthy hands, but there is always the authority of confidence: here we are and this is what we’re doing. I love “we seemed more groundhog than human,” and your pita haiku (1/3 beginning and 1/3 ending!) is wonderful.