The world is an extraordinary dumpster fire right now and it leaves me longing for something ordinary. Ordinary time, ordinary things, ordinary annoyances, ordinary pleasures. Ordinary, calm, boring, moments.
Pat Schneider understands. Take an ordinary moment to sink into the dose of sanity she offers.
The Patience of Ordinary Things
by Pat Schneider
It is a kind of love, is it not?
How the cup holds the tea,
How the chair stands sturdy and foursquare,
How the floor receives the bottoms of shoes
Or toes. How soles of feet know
Where they're supposed to be.
I've been thinking about the patience
....
(Read the last few lines here.)
The round-up this week is being hosted by the ever-wonderful Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup.
Photo courtesy of Pixabay.
20 comments:
"And what is more generous than a window?" I love this line. What a fabulous poem. Thank you for sharing.
It is so often that poets show us a way to take care of ourselves, and this poem does do that, Karen, as you wrote, too, of your longing for something ordinary. It's special! Thank you!
Tricia, I love that line too. It makes me feel the expansiveness of a new view.
Linda, yes, I love the way the right poems come to us at the right moments. :)
We certainly need "ordinary" right now. This poem brings the calm we all need right now. Thank you for sharing it!
All in favor or ordinary, raise your hand! :) Thanks, Linda.
What IS more generous than a window? This season I have loved my ordinary kitchen window that allows me to watch ordinary hummingbirds. Actually there is nothing ordinary about ordinary things. If you pay attention as this poem does, you find generosity and hope.
Enjoyed reading this poem again -- as you said, much needed in these dumpster fire times. The last line always kills me. Thanks for this moment of calm and beauty.
Yes, we all need the sacred ordinary in our everyday lives! Give me the fat robins pecking at the soil beneath my bedside window, after a dawn rain … give me the quiet rustle of the newspaper at the breakfast table … wishing you peace, dear Karen🕊️
* Margaret, yes, the ordinary can be the most extraordinary. Hummingbirds always make me think of my parents. We hardly ever see them around here, but my daughter spotted one in our garden the day my father passed away, and when my mother died a few months later, I had a hummingbird moment too.
* Jama, Pat Schneider is always worth revisiting, isn’t she? I just went to your blog to revisit the times you've shared her work and this poem. I had totally missed your post about her on Feb. 19, 2021 (that was the week I was moving my parents home from the nursing home, after they both finally recovered, mostly, from Covid.) What a gorgeous post! I didn't know that the words, "And what is more generous than a window?” were on her gravestone. How beautiful. Thanks for that.
* elli, such lovely images and moments — thank you. Peace!
"What is more generous than a window?" Just wow. This poem is a study in choosing just the right words for your poem. Thanks for sharing!
Cathy, she's a master at that, isn't she? :)
Karen, this poem is a sweet gift on ordinary days when the world is a mixed up dumpster fire. I shall spend the day shopping with my daughter remembering that an ordinary day can become so peaceful and full of beauty if I but look around me. Have a beautiful weekend filled with ordinary days.
Thank you, Carol, and I'm wishing you the same!
simple, beautiful and the perfect balm for those of us feeling singed from the dumpster fire. thank you!
I love this one, and if I'm not mistaken you've posted it before...or someone here has! A litany of and for the dependably ordinariness. Whatever ordinary is left to me is going to change in about a year--we'll be moving to Brighton, England for the academic years going forward (it's time for my wife to be near HER parents as they age). I was wondering, Karen, if you'd have a chat with me about the online poetry/teaching work that I think you do...I'm going to have to shift some of my attention to that. Thanks! heidi.mordhorst.poet@gmail.com
I'm glad I clicked, because those last two lines are my favorite. Hooray for stairs and windows and the expectedness and unexpectedness they bring. Thanks for this brief respite from the dumpster fire! xo
* Linda M., it's my pleasure to share the perfect balm. :)
* Heidi, what a huge move you have coming up — exciting! Sure, I'd be happy to chat about my work at Brave Writer. I'm employed by them, it's not my own thing, but happy to share whatever I can! I'll email you.
* Laura, those last two lines are definitely worth the click! xo
Oooh, I love this! Thanks, Karen. --Susan
Thanks, Susan!
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