Poet Jane Hirshfield said "... the feeling I have about poem-writing (is) that it is always an exploration, of discovering something I didn't already know. Who I am shifts from moment to moment, year to year. What I can perceive does as well. A new poem peers into mystery, into whatever lies just beyond the edge of knowable ground."
I bring a different poem to the writing classes each week, not only to inspire but to introduce new poets to the group members.
Wednesday Lunch by Robyn Sarah
Fishing for a word in the Pam Pam Café. Our lunch dishes stacked, pages on the table. ‘Worn,’ you say, ‘or tarnished. Used.’ I try ‘blackened’ and ‘eroded.’ Your eyes fix on a lamp above your head; mine get lost among table-legs, chair legs. Finally we settle for ‘old.’ Discovering the justness of the obvious. It has the right ring, this plain work: like reading the whole menu and ordering soup and a sandwich. We look at each other and laugh, and our laughter multiplies, drawing stares. When the waitress comes, with coffee and that smile you want to dance to, we know that later we will go outinto the humid afternoon and walk five or six blocks together for no good reason, rain wetting our faces. ~from Questions About The Stars (Brick Books, 1998)