April 1, 1013
I begin this project with a poem by Mary Oliver as it is exactly what I would like to do for the month of April...to slow down, to notice, and to appreciate all this is around me. There are SO many poetry projects happening this month that after I searched through the blogs I love I was a bit overwhelmed. Many are combining poetry with art and images. And I get all excited and think I want to do that too! But in an effort to simplify I have allowed myself to do what comes organically each and every day. And so on this first day...Mary Oliver makes me think about what I want to do with this one wild and precious life. Part of what I want to do is to cultivate that artistic side of myself that is hidden underneath all of the daily tasks and lists of things to do!
So here goes...
The Summer Day by Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
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