{"id":3755,"date":"2021-01-21T00:00:26","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T05:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/?p=3755"},"modified":"2021-01-25T16:14:57","modified_gmt":"2021-01-25T21:14:57","slug":"todays-post-inauguration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2021\/01\/21\/todays-post-inauguration\/","title":{"rendered":"today’s post — “Inauguration”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Has the Inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris emerged as a national nail-biter or a deeply surprising congeries of wonders and beauty?\u00a0\u00a0 I find myself staying up very late these days, wanting to open space to savor surprise after surprise – –\u00a0\u00a0Amanda Corman held us in her hand as she invited us to imagine the possibility of a young poet\u2019s capacity to move us into stillness;\u00a0\u00a0 President Biden\u2019s soft-spoken invitation\u00a0to us all to listen to one another as our primary source of national healing and renewal;\u00a0 and the fireworks (!!!) that framed the nation\u2019s capital;\u00a0 – – sign after sign of hope, signs, too, of resilient courage in the face of the challenges we can all see.<\/p>\n

Our Inauguration has been choreographed to bring the Capital deep into a playful wonder of body and heart and memory here on this Inauguration Thursday.\u00a0\u00a0So too with today\u2019s poet laureate\u00a0Maria Wis\u0142awa Anna Szymborska\u00a0<\/strong>who introduces us to an anonymous little girl exploring gravitation: a child\u2019s playful wonder.<\/p>\n

When I stayed up late in and around the Capital Mall, fresh with celebration in the night, I might have been that little girl seeing how far the table-top dishes might fly.<\/p>\n

Best to read the poem out loud, with pauses.\u00a0\u00a0Have a blest Thursday.<\/p>\n

John sj<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post\u00a0\u201cA Little Girl Tugs At The Tablecloth”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wislawa Szymborska<\/p>\n

She\u2019s been in this world for over a year,<\/p>\n

and in this world not everything\u2019s been examined
\nand taken in hand.<\/p>\n

The subject of today\u2019s investigation
\nis things that don\u2019t move themselves.<\/p>\n

They need to be helped along,<\/p>\n

shoved, shifted,
\ntaken from their place and relocated.<\/p>\n

They don\u2019t all want to go, e,g., the bookshelf,
\nthe cupboard, the unyielding walls, the table.<\/p>\n

But the tablecloth on the stubborn table
\n– when well-seized by its hems \u2013
\nmanifests a willingness to travel.<\/p>\n

And the glasses, plates,
\ncreamer, spoons, bowl,
\nare fairly shaking with desire.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fascinating,
\nwhat form of motion will they take,
\nonce they\u2019re trembling on the brink:
\nwill they roam across the ceiling?
\nfly around the lamp?
\nhop onto the windowsill and from there to a tree?<\/p>\n

Mr. Newton still has no say in this.
\nLet him look down from the heavens and wave his hands.<\/p>\n

This experiment must be completed.
\nAnd it will.<\/p>\n

(Translation: Clare Cavanagh and Stanis\u0142aw Bara\u0144czak)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nMaria Wis\u0142awa Anna Szymborska<\/strong>
\n(2 July 1923\u00a0\u2013 1 February 2012)
\nNobel Prize in Literature 1996
\nhttps:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wis\u0142awa_Szymborska<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Has the Inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris emerged as a national nail-biter or a deeply surprising congeries of wonders and beauty?\u00a0\u00a0 I find myself staying up very late these days, wanting to open space to savor surprise after … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3755"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3758,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755\/revisions\/3758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}