24 Comments
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sophia schweitzer's avatar

This is just gorgeous and brings me, yes, to tears. Happy tears. So exquisite the reflecting - water, life, the mirror when courage pulls to look away from self-fashioned reality, and the sparkling surprise right away of Theodore Roethke's beautiful quote. After reading, I sat here for a while listening to the cello piece Carnival of the Animals - The Swan, by Camille Saint-Saëns. A perfect complement. Thank you.

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ars poetica's avatar

thank you for your words. <3 and thank you for putting this wonderful music in my pocket. i don't listen to nearly enough classical music, and this opened a door for me.

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rabiah's avatar

reading this after my daily soul-crushing job hunting linkedin shift. i KNEW it was going to be good and comforting because i love your writing. thank you so much for sharing <3

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ars poetica's avatar

i'm so happy these words could buoy you. and thank you for letting me know, and for being here.

good luck with your job hunting... these things can be precarious matters for the heart. i hope you find a place for yourself somewhere that lets you be like the swan.

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Stevie Converse's avatar

Just came home from a lovely and inspiring afternoon at the Lit Fest at Amherst College with poets Brandon Som and Paisley Rekdal, moderator Ruth Dickey of the National Book Foundation, along with Jane Wald of the Emily Dickinson Foundation. Primed from this awesome poetry reading and conversation, I opened my laptop and saw the email from you. I just read your piece out loud, as if you wrote it just for me. It made its path straight to the center of my being. Thank you.

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ars poetica's avatar

what a wonderful way to spend a day... swimming in words. i have looked up some of the contemporary poets you mentioned- thank you for opening that door for me.

and thank you for leaving your words here. and for reading my work aloud to yourself... it makes me so happy that i could inhabit your day, even for a moment, as music.

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Celtic Boy Underwater's avatar

This is a lovely and enchanting note of wisdom. For me, poetry is wholly a creation made out of nothingness. Courage is what I strive for even if my own path is undecided. Tears are derived from heaven’s clouds. You weep for the loss as well as the change within. Your insights always intoxicate me. I miss ideas that push us further into the uncharted waters. Mary Oliver is one of my favourite people as well. She exudes elegance and empathy for the smaller creatures. There is substance behind the artifice. Thanks again for allowing your words to flow out. Nature’s strength is in her elements and energies.

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ars poetica's avatar

thank you for being here, and for listening. you are right: tears are derived from heaven's clouds. and what a wonderful image: to know they are drawn in by the earth like water, recycled, and given back to heaven again, when we cry.

i hope you pursued uncharted waters today like a swan.

i know i did.

<3

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Celtic Boy Underwater's avatar

I always learn a bit of joy from your weekly meditations. I’ve been connected to bodies of water in various forms in my lifetime. Thank you for beautiful, golden rays of wisdom and knowledge.

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Gwyneth's avatar

Unveiled

A luminous measure of nature,

Radiant and transcending,

Bright, crystalline prism of being, soaring

Upon Aglaia's arc,

Born of winged rapture and in serenity,

Reflected

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ars poetica's avatar

this is simply beautiful.

and what wonderful use of form. like a perfect circle.

thank you for sharing this <3

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Gwyneth's avatar

I am deeply touched that you are touched.

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Kimberly Warner's avatar

So beautiful. May you glide into your day. 🙏

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ars poetica's avatar

and you. thank you for dropping this here <3

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Ayla Vincent's avatar

Never. Ever. Disappoint.

Ever. 🩷🌷

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ars poetica's avatar

oh, thank you. so much. <3

i hope you've found ways to be a swan today... <3

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Putali's avatar

Thank you for writing this.

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ars poetica's avatar

thank you for being here. and for saying that. <3

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Conny Borgelioen's avatar

To receive your words while in-wait-of-spring sunlight streams through the window is such a blessing ❤️

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ars poetica's avatar

oh... thank you. <3 i hope your world is flooded with spring. washed with light. even if just for a moment.

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Bernardi's avatar

The inner closeness, the enchantment of words. (Mary Oliver, always perfect)

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ars poetica's avatar

isn't she always? <3

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Erin Horn's avatar

Very moving! I really love your writing, it seems to knock deeply on the door of my soul. Thank you for sharing your voice so generously.

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kayla's avatar

embracing the absurd 🖤 this is so impressive and beautifully written

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