Greetings, Poetry Lovers! I hope you're having a good start to the New Year.
I was too smothered in holiday Etsy orders to participate in the Winter Poem Swap this year, but I usually can't resist the call of Jone Rush MacCulloch to join in the New Year poem postcard swap. (It's a lovely way to start the year, and there's usually an optional nod to the Lunar New Year, meaning I have a few extra weeks to get my act together....)
What a delight to already receive two postcards from poets way more on the ball than I. And they both celebrate one of my favorite things: LIGHT. (How much am I drawn to light? I'm probably part moth....)
Linda Mitchell has been busy with her art supplies again, including vibrant stampings/printings on her card, and a gorgeous collaged star ornament. On the front of the postcard, she included a mesmerizing poem by Sara Teasdale from 1926:
Dark of the Moon
There will be stars over the place forever;
Though the house we loved and the street
we loved are lost,
Every time the earth circles her orbit
On the night the autumn equinox is crossed,
Two stars we knew, poised on the peak of mid-night
Will reach their zenith; stillness will be deep;
There will be stars over the place forever,
There will be stars forever, while we sleep.
And on the back, an original poetic message:
Between joy and sorrow,
all I need to do is look up
to know the stars are above you too.
Remember to look up.
Happy New Year!
2022
And on the handcrafted star, a found/haiku poem also taking its inspiration from Teasdale's (direct quotes, in fact):
stillness will be deep
stars forever while we sleep
circles on the night
©Linda Mitchell
While Linda's gift has me gazing at the mystical and magical night sky, Mary Lee Hahn's beautiful card has me warming myself in the glow of close-by candlelight. (I love the immediacy of the flames and the texture of the bricks in the background of her original photograph on the card's front.)
Mary Lee's poem also takes a haiku turn:
each flame provides light
we illuminate this world
us all - together
©Mary Lee Hahn
Oh, how I hope 2022 can bring the world some much-needed togetherness and warmth for its human inhabitants, guided by starlight and all kinds of light.
For more poetic illumination, head over to Beyond Literacy Week, where Carol has 2022's first Roundup! Thank you, Carol.