What it is that brings us together, binds our relationships and heals our wounds, even beyond the limits of our own agency?
Category: Poetry
Ziyong Chengru – Ten Verses
Chinese Nun Ziyong Chengru on the pain of parting and how to draw solace from the cyclical nature of time and landscape.
Kahlil Gibran – Fear
Kahlil Gibran's poem on the fear of dissipation is a call to faith, to trust in the oceanic nature of the life-manifesting force.
Naomi Shihab Nye – Burning the Old Year
Naomi Shihab Nye's poem for the New Year is reminiscent of the tradition of 'Año Nuevo' in some Latin American countries.
Sandra M. Castillo – Christmas, 1970
Cuban-born Sandra M. Castillo writes about her first Christmas in the United States, when she was just eight years old.
Billy Collins – Shoveling Snow With Buddha
Collins' outlandish and endearing image of the Buddha's wholehearted snow shoveling, with thoughts of hot chocolate and an imminent game of cards.
Wendell Berry – To Know The Dark
Berry's poem is a reminder that to truly know darkness and its divine power, we need the courage to step into and leave the light behind.
Derek Walcott – Love After Love
A gentle and joyful invitation to intimacy and love towards ourselves by Saint Lucian poet Derek Walcott.
Jack Gilbert – Going There
The mythology of failure, especially in love, is a frequent motif in Jack Gilbert's poetry.
Jane Hirshfield – All The Difficult Hours and Minutes
In Hirshfield's poem, calamity turns to calmness when things turn into themselves, a principle that goes to the heart of transformative practice.