Poetry Thursday. Carrying a Poem Around

How about a poem about a poem about carrying a poem around? Stay with me. I think I can explain. There's a Billy Collins poem called Japan, (read and hear it at the link) about having a Haiku with him throughout a day. It's beautiful. Delicate. In the same way as he speaks of repeating the Haiku, I can come again to lines of this poem, or read it over and over. It's the poem I thought of first when I saw this week's Poetry Thursday prompt. And then, I remembered that I'd used the idea from that poem to write a poem last year, and I called that poem After reading Billy Collins' "Japan". It was prompted by hearing a dear friend speak about what she does when she is learning a passage from Sacred Scripture. She carries it with her, and if she's standing in a queue, or waiting somewhere, she takes it out and reads it. I was very moved by this idea. Of not becoming impatient, of not using the time to complain or get involved in trivia, but to feed the soul. I think this is also what we do when we carry a poem about. We feed the soul. [The word Baha in the poem means Glory]


After reading Billy Collins’ Japan
(for Val )


He talks of carrying three lines,
room to room throughout his day,
pondering bells and moths
and temples,
telling the lines to his mirror,
to his dog,
fingering the seventeen syllables,
each like a bead,
a prayer to roll on his tongue.
Through to the night,
he carries it.

You tell me of the Glory-words
you carry by your heart:
In your car – Bahá;
on your way to the shop;
stowed in your handbag
with lipstick and mobile phone – Bahá;
picked up and sipped
in moments through your day –
Bahá, Bahá,


There are more Poetry Thursday entries HERE