Poetry Orgy and Groundhog's Day
Does anyone else like the movie Groundhog Day? Bill Murray is perfect as the most cynical weatherman who has to relive the worst day of his life over and over again. I love this movie and the lesson it teaches - maybe you get second chances at changing yourself and being nice to others.
Moving on to Reya from Grace's Poppies. She started an experiment where she asked bloggers to post their fave poem on Groundhog's Day to honor the Feast of Bridgid. Nothing says pagan holiday like a fat groundhog and poetry!
But I really like the idea of reading everyone else's poems. It's a virtual blog poetry orgy. And the only thing you'll catch is some inspiration :) I had a difficult time finding just one poem to present. I decided upon a poem by Margaret Atwood one of my favorite authors/poets. I first read this poem in college while coping with a broken heart. The longing and wanting is always there, but now that I'm in a relationship that makes me happy this poem takes on a whole new meaning. Enjoy.
Variations on the Word Love
By Margaret Atwood
This is a word we use to plug
holes with. It's the right size for those warm
blanks in speech, for those red heart
-shaped vacancies on the page that look nothing
like real hearts. Add lace
and you can sell it.
We insert it also in the one empty
space on the printed form
that comes with no instructions. There are whole
magazines with not much in them
but the word love, you can
rub it all over your body and you
can cook with it too. How do we know
it isn't what goes on at the cool
debaucheries of slugs under damp
pieces of cardboard? As for the weed
-seedlings nosing their tough snouts up
among the lettuces, they shout it.
Love! Love! sing the soldiers, raising
their glittering knives in salute.
Then there's the two
of us. This word
is far too short for us, it has only
f our letters, too sparse
to fill those deep bare
vacuums between the stars
that press on us with their deafness.
It's not love we don't wish
to fall into, but that fear.
This word is not enough but it will
have to do. It's a single vowel in this metallic
silence, a mouth that says
O again and again in wonder
and pain, a breath, a finger
grip on a cliffside.
You can hold on
or let go.
Moving on to Reya from Grace's Poppies. She started an experiment where she asked bloggers to post their fave poem on Groundhog's Day to honor the Feast of Bridgid. Nothing says pagan holiday like a fat groundhog and poetry!
But I really like the idea of reading everyone else's poems. It's a virtual blog poetry orgy. And the only thing you'll catch is some inspiration :) I had a difficult time finding just one poem to present. I decided upon a poem by Margaret Atwood one of my favorite authors/poets. I first read this poem in college while coping with a broken heart. The longing and wanting is always there, but now that I'm in a relationship that makes me happy this poem takes on a whole new meaning. Enjoy.
Variations on the Word Love
By Margaret Atwood
This is a word we use to plug
holes with. It's the right size for those warm
blanks in speech, for those red heart
-shaped vacancies on the page that look nothing
like real hearts. Add lace
and you can sell it.
We insert it also in the one empty
space on the printed form
that comes with no instructions. There are whole
magazines with not much in them
but the word love, you can
rub it all over your body and you
can cook with it too. How do we know
it isn't what goes on at the cool
debaucheries of slugs under damp
pieces of cardboard? As for the weed
-seedlings nosing their tough snouts up
among the lettuces, they shout it.
Love! Love! sing the soldiers, raising
their glittering knives in salute.
Then there's the two
of us. This word
is far too short for us, it has only
f our letters, too sparse
to fill those deep bare
vacuums between the stars
that press on us with their deafness.
It's not love we don't wish
to fall into, but that fear.
This word is not enough but it will
have to do. It's a single vowel in this metallic
silence, a mouth that says
O again and again in wonder
and pain, a breath, a finger
grip on a cliffside.
You can hold on
or let go.
posted by VP of Dior at 9:57 AM
I went on a Margaret Atwood orgy in college and read everything I could get my hands on. I love that you chose this piece, and I am loving Reya's creative project and that so many people are participating.
P.S. I love Groundhog Day. I think it's Bill Murray's best work.
Beautiful poem. I like it a lot.
Oh, and Groundhog Day? Total classic.
I love groundhogs (cause they're fat and furry), and Groundhog day, and our poem! :)
P.S. Goin out this weekend? Hit me up...
Groundhog Day is one of my favorite movies. I love it when Bill Murray figures out that doing good deeds is what makes life worth living. In the book version he lives 10,000 years in that one day. Wow.
Thanks so much for the M.A. poem. Like Cube, I was a Margaret Atwood freak during college. I read everything she ever wrote. It was very intense.
LOVE the poem and so very glad you posted. Thank you so much!