A deep bow to you Phyllis. You have touched my heart immeasurably.

Beautiful. So inspiring and encouraging to start off the new year. Whether you consider yourself a poet or not, whether I consider myself a poet or not, your words certainly spoke poetically and awakened my poetic heart. I bow to you with gratitude and thanks for the years of being here and sharing.  And I hope to see / read / hear the work some time in the future.

Phyllis Cole-Dai, project curator, shares a reading of her poem "On How to Pick and Eat Poems" as a gesture of gratitude to the community of A Year of Being Here (http://www.ayearofbeinghere.com). The text follows.


On How to Pick and Eat Poems
© Phyllis Cole-Dai
 
Stop whatever it is you’re doing.
Come down from the attic.
Grab a bucket or a basket and head for light.
That’s where the best poems grow, and in the dappled dark.
 
Go slow. Watch out for thorns and bears.
When you find a good bush, bow to it, or take off your shoes.
Then pluck. This poem. That poem. Any poem.
It should come off the stem easy, just a little tickle.
No need to sniff first, judge the color, test the firmness.
You’ll only know it’s ripe if you taste.
 
So put a poem upon your lips. Chew its pulp.
Let its juice spill over your tongue.
Let your reading of it teach you
what sort of creature you are
and the nature of the ground you walk upon.
Bring your whole life out loud to this one poem.
Eating one poem can save you, if you’re hungry enough.
 
When birds and deer beat you to your favorite patch,
smile at their familiar appetite, and ramble on.
Somewhere another crop waits for harvest.
And if your eye should ever light upon a cluster of poems
hanging on a single stem, cup your hand around them
and pull, without greed or clinging.
Some will slip off in your palm.
None will go to waste.
 
Take those you adore poem-picking when you can,
even to the wild and hidden places.
Reach into brambles for their sake,
stain your skin some shade of red or blue,
mash words against your teeth, for love.
And always leave some poems within easy reach
for the next picker, in kinship with the unknown.
 
If you ever carry away more than you need,
go on home to your kitchen, and make good jam.
No need to rush, the poems will keep.
Some will even taste better with age,
a rich batch of preserves.
 
Store up jars and jars of jam. Plenty for friends.
Plenty for the long, howling winter. Plenty for strangers.
Plenty for all the bread in this broken world.


On How to Pick and Eat Poems

phylliscoledai

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