Wednesday October 26
\nA New Flower \u00a0\u201c. . . I . . . \u00a0found myself
\nwith a new flower . . . ”<\/p>\n
Strong poems find language to bring readers close to some deep, human, inner experience. \u00a0 Today\u2019s post, \u00a0Denise Levertov\u2019s \u201cA New Flower,\u201d reminds me of Richard Wilbur\u2019s 1921 \u201cThe Writer\u201d \u00a0(posted \u00a0October 10, 2016 \u2014 https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/?s=the+writer<\/a>). \u00a0Wilbur writes of a young woman writing in her room, pausing to consider a next step in the process, risking youth with its brave, creative, uncertainties (\u201cyoung as she is, the stuff of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy\u201d). \u00a0Levertov brings the reader deep into a moment of sheer beauty in the autumn of the poet\u2019s life.<\/p>\n To this reader, both poets lead me into wonder and stillness. \u00a0You too, perhaps. \u00a0 Best to read this one softly, out loud but almost in a whisper. \u00a0Pauses help too, of course.<\/p>\n Have a blest day,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Most of the sunflower’s bright petals Denise Levertov<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wednesday October 26 A New Flower \u00a0\u201c. . . I . . . \u00a0found myself with a new flower . . . ” Strong poems find language to bring readers close to some deep, human, inner experience. \u00a0 Today\u2019s post, … Continue reading
\nhad fallen, so I stripped the few
\npoised to go, and found myself
\nwith a new flower: the center,
\nthat round cushion of dark-roast
\ncoffee brown, tipped with uncountable
\nminute florets of gold, more noticeable
\nnow that the clear, shiny yellow was gone,
\nand around it a ring of green, the petals
\nfrom behind the petals, there all the time,
\neach having the form of a sacred flame
\nor bo-tree leaf, a playful, jubilant form
\n(taken for granted in Paisley patterns)
\nand the light coming through them, so that
\nwhere, in double or triple rank, like a bevy
\nof Renaissance angels, they overlapped,
\nthere was shadow, a darker shade
\nof the same spring green – a new flower
\non this fall day, revealed within
\nthe autumn of its own brief bloom<\/p>\n