Friday, December 14
“that’s what got me to face into the wind’s teeth”
I woke this morning with a taste of joy on my tongue, that despite a gaggle of angry news competing for time as we work our commitments. Sometimes joy after grief awakens slowly, filled with stillness and soft footsteps. Sometimes joy after grief runs so hard it messes your hair and makes you giddy. Today’s poem is that 2nd kind of joy. Whenever I hear what William Carlos Williams has pulled out of his magic poet’s bag; I cannot help repeating it.
Try it for this mid-day in final exam week on McNichols, a poem so short, so improbable, bringing two starlings into my imagination, alive and dancing. Maybe he will surprise you too. Short poems work best when read slowly and with pauses & repeated at least once.
Have a blest weekend at the end of the 2nd Week of Advent.
john sj
Today’s Post: The Manoeuvre
I saw the two starlings
coming in toward the wires
But at the last,
just before alighting, they
turned in the air together
and landed backwards!
that’s what got me —
to face into the wind’s teeth.
William Carlos Williams
September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Carlos_Williams