Thank you Mae, Jon, Don, Kate, Anya, you are all very kind. But the kindest gift of all was to introduce me to: Kindness
Naomi Shihab Nye, 1952. What a moving poem to come across all unawares, it is beautiful and sad and modest and true:

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows..

As our young doctor, Johnny Keats, once remarked: "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing...".

Thank you.

Comment is about Continue to be kind (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Oh Erin, oh Jason I want to
But what will the others round me think?
I can't hold it in any longer
(Don't care if they flush me down sink....)

So there. ?

Comment is about Bring Back the Pin Up (blog)

Original item by Erin N. Buckley

I like it Cynthia. Thanks for sharing the moment

Comment is about The Joke (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

I 'aint heard no rumour
Maybe too far away?
Please don't crash bang fade off
What more can I say?

You're doin' all the right things
At least you still get up
You ride your ride-on mower
You seem a healthy pup

What more can I say?

Ahah you wash your own car
This is good to hear
Don't take it round to carwash
Give up and have a beer

I'll wait round till a rumour
Drifts way down south to Aus
I won't believe a bleedin' thing
I won't believe just cos ?

Comment is about Rumors Of My Demise (blog)

Original item by d.knape

Many true words there John. Especially the last four lines
Don

Comment is about Continue to be kind (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Reminds me of someone I know...

I like it.

Comment is about Rumors Of My Demise (blog)

Original item by d.knape

Yes, I like this Keith ?

Comment is about Inclement Weather (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

Amen.

Comment is about Continue to be kind (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Wonderful poem, Ray, beautiful. Still shines, great line.

Comment is about THE DISTANCE OF AGE (blog)

Original item by ray pool

It's a great moment, Cynthia, I enjoyed your poem.

Comment is about The Joke (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Hi Mae, thanks for stopping to say hi on my profile. I'm enjoying your work. Warm regards, Kate

Comment is about Mae Foreman (poet profile)

Original item by Mae Foreman

Beautiful John and a wonderful theme. This brings me in mind of one of my favourites.

Kindness
Naomi Shihab Nye, 1952
Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
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.

Comment is about Continue to be kind (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

"Because I'm involved in mankind and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee!"
Lovely John?
"The frailty of strangers".
Thank you for this
Mae

Comment is about Continue to be kind (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

John,

Thank you for an excellent poem which describes a virtue which is always for the betterment of society. These are words to be applauded.

Thank you

Keith

Comment is about Continue to be kind (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Speak up D.! Excellent ?
Thank you
Mae

Comment is about Rumors Of My Demise (blog)

Original item by d.knape

Thanks to David Rachel Nigel Desmond, Anya and Heart of Lead for likes.
Thanks also to Jon Frances and M.C. for you encouraging comments

Frances I sometimes think I may have enough retrospective poetry to fill a small book, but I am always worried about becoming too much of an old fart.


M.C. I am glad you picked up the 'all front and trousers 'comment I was a bit concerned that people would not understand it up on it.


this was one of these poems I nearly rejected. Glad I didn't now


Thanks again to everyone
love and blessings


Martin

Comment is about city of birth (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

I will try to catch up with some of your work. Thanks for the 'like' on The Joke.

Comment is about LeGou (poet profile)

Original item by LeGou

A melancholy poem yet written from the heart. I enjoyed this. Please continue to write.
Keith

Comment is about Lamentations of osunkunle (blog)

Original item by Monseigneur Fifehanmi

Whenever this scene crosses my mind my whole self just smiles from deep inside. I thought someone else might enjoy it too. Just for fun.

Comment is about The Joke (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

2008 (I think) The collapse of the Lehman Bross.Bank in America out of sheer greed.

The ripples spread world wide,

Comment is about Would They? (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

Beautifully written Erin, I love the concept of the, "Witchy woman," in you, for me, I always think of it as a mischievous little demon sitting on my shoulder saying, "Oh go on, you know you want to." But much like you, the responsibilities of parenthood mean that these days the angel on the other shoulder usually wins?.

Usually.

J.

Comment is about Bring Back the Pin Up (blog)

Original item by Erin N. Buckley

Hi Ray, this is truly beautiful. I hope I'm remembered with such vivid tenderness.
K

Comment is about THE DISTANCE OF AGE (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Magnificent and complex. There is comfort in a carousel. One I'll come back to for sure. Thanks for sharing Peter.

Comment is about CAROUSELS (blog)

Original item by Peter Taylor

So true. Organic materials have an authenticity and beauty that can't be mimicked.

Comment is about Stone (blog)

Original item by Rich

I like the flow of this. A gentle, feminine rap. Much better than all that male growling. John

Comment is about Bring Back the Pin Up (blog)

Original item by Erin N. Buckley

We do a lot of this on WOL don't we? Demonising sections of society without offering any specific evidence. Still, it's good sport isn't it?

Comment is about Would They? (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

I haven't read much yet either of your stuff. Leave me a comment when you check out more of my work and tell your followers about me. I will read more after I finish some of my other poetry things I am in the middle of. Thank you for the support and kind words.

Comment is about Jason Bayliss (poet profile)

Original item by Jason Bayliss

All the worst aspects of humanity wrapped up in one profession.

Comment is about Would They? (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

Your take, as good as mine.
the poem says only Time heals all.
Your experience may be something different.
write a poem about it. ?

Comment is about Don Matthews (poet profile)

Original item by Don Matthews

Just hiding behind their honest, sincere faces, doing their job gathering in money - my money - your money - his money - her money - anyone and everyones money.

I bet they eat well.

Comment is about Would They? (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

Rich I love this
I love the deep 'mystery' of it - and you have put it so well.

Dorothy

Comment is about Stone (blog)

Original item by Rich

Your sample poem 'perfection' raises an interesting problem being faced in our schools causing stress and mental health problems. Students feel they have to be 'perfect'. They are being introduced to 'fails of the famous' who they have heard of and relate to. You learn only by successive failures. And you don't have to get 100% in a test. 97% is OK.

Comment is about Lisa C Bassignani (poet profile)

Original item by Lisa C Bassignani

Oh I do like this Lisa

Comment is about Words (blog)

Original item by Lisa C Bassignani

Simple but all the more effective for it. And in a tight structure too.
I think it was Ronald Reagan who said something to the effect that we are all as equally brave. It’s just that some stay braver for longer.

Comment is about HERO AND COWARD (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

A really warm, wholesome and utterly human piece of writing which reaches the skies, where it belongs. Thanks so much.
Peter T

Comment is about Trevor Homer's 'When in Some Distant Time (For Imogen)’ is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Stuart Buck

I enjoyed this being a thelemite myself, I'm surprised theres no mention of Crowley in it. A beautifully written piece.

93 93/93

Comment is about Thelema (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Hi, thank you for reading The Matriarch. Like your new profile pic..Taylor..?

Comment is about Mikey V Kinsey (poet profile)

Original item by Mikey V Kinsey

Thank you all so much! I truly appreciate your kind words.

Comment is about His Eyes (blog)

Original item by Heart of Lead

Dark, broody with a hint of menace. Well done.

Comment is about His Eyes (blog)

Original item by Heart of Lead

I enjoy that other offering, MC, "If you don't know I'm not telling".

Comment is about INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S WEEK (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Hi Erin, great sample, favourite line of many for me, "I wear your beat on my sleeve," love that. Look forward to reading more, but not right now because it's 12.35 am here.

J.

Comment is about Erin N. Buckley (poet profile)

Original item by Erin N. Buckley

One sentence divides the genders
(I brave the boo and hiss!)
Those wondering words so often heard
"Does my bum look big in this?" ?

Comment is about INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S WEEK (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thanks Don and Kate, and of course thank you, "Heart."
(I still hate it though ?. Feel like writing something really flouncy and romantic now just to get that robotic voice out of my head.?)

Comment is about Poetic Dissection (blog)

Original item by Jason Bayliss

It hardly defies logic that circumstance can play a huge part in applying the words "hero" and "coward" - especially taking into
account human nature and self-preservation. Someone who loses
patience/temper (control?) in a situation might indulge in out-of-
character behaviour which might be
applauded or condemned.
One who in war unordered goes headlong to charge an enemy
might be driven by motives and forces beyond their usual restraint
but be viewed as a "hero" and even given a medal. On another
day, reticence and a cooler head might see something considered
to be "cowardice" by others. A soul who passes by a street fight
one day might intervene on another day. These can be the "flick of the coin".

Comment is about HERO AND COWARD (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Powerful and truthful. Righteous bitterness laces your words. Broken hearts hurt at any age and time.

Comment is about Stupid Cupid (blog)

Original item by Vautaw

I think that some people do not realise that so much can be said with the eyes if people care to look and you have captured just that within this poem. Love it

Comment is about His Eyes (blog)

Original item by Heart of Lead

Love your sample poem. If this is the intro, I want the whole book! ?

Comment is about Heart of Lead (poet profile)

Original item by Heart of Lead

“The drug for your soul to sing.” That’s how I feel about spring too! Reading this poem makes me happy, reminds me that spring is not far away! ☀️

Comment is about Spring (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

“Your name carved into my skin like hope.” Love that line! Beautiful, intimate poem. Thanks for sharing. ?

Comment is about Hilton Garden Inn (blog)

Original item by Erin N. Buckley

Love this lyric Damon! ❤️

Comment is about Firefly (blog)

Original item by Mikey V Kinsey