My daily’s with you began more than several years ago when my daughter became too busy to leave her husband a daily inspirational as she left for work very early. She asked me to take over that task.
I agreed, and that “inspirational” lasted for just about a month or more, as I included the rest of my family and a few friends. Then, I ran out of the generality of what another could find inspirational and I picked up a book of poetry.
Absolutely one of the most sublime ‘accidents’ of my life.
My home now overflows with books of poetry, about poetry and one of those books was about the conversations of poets. I happen to believe we all are incipient poets, just as we might call ourselves actors or painters or dancers or even singers as in ‘loudly in the shower’.
It’s the background of our being human, a way of sharing ourselves.
I was recently asked to host an evening of conversation. I’ve told you about that, and most of you are a distance away and it’s not logical that you could get here. As the weeks go by, I’ll keep you in touch with how it’s going.
Meanwhile, I found a book on conversations with poets, it’s called “Giving Their Word”, edited by Steven Ratiner.
In the preface, Ratiner says, “I intended to explore some of the enduring themes within each poet’s work and to make the connection between a poet’s creations and the DAILY LIVES of all readers, not just the small percentage who were brave enough to visit the poetry section.”
I list those themes as the ground of any general conversation:
* the family and the importance of relationships
* the natural world and our sense of place
* the province of memory and the recording of living history
* the imagination and the power to name.
