More often then that, I welcome my directees to transition from whatever has been before this sacred time of spiritual direction with a poem. I love poetry and turn to it as often as I turn to scripture for inspiration and wisdom. I am always looking for something new and fresh but I keep a large file system full of poems that I have collected from all kinds of different places that I like to offer as gifts.
As National Poetry Month comes to an end in the United States, I wanted share some of these gifts that might spark your own prayers. I remember being introduced to poetry when I was young. It felt opaque and confusing. I didn't know how to find myself in it and I know that this is a sentiment that persists for many people so let’s begin this series of gifts with my favorite poem about poetry by Billy Collins. In Introduction to Poetry, we are invited to experience poetry as prayer.
This isn’t about getting it right or even understanding what the poet meant. We will never fully know what the artist imagined but we can walk inside our own experience noticing the texture and memory each word evokes. We can allow the poem to inform who we are in this moment and find wonder in encountering ourselves in someone else’s words. We can contemplate all that we are and all that we could be in a few lines of poetry without getting muddled down in what it is supposed to mean. We can instead wonder:
What are these words saying to me right now?
How do these words magnify my own hopes and sorrows?
What do I most need to hear?
I offer a simple practice below along with a collection of some of my favorite poems for contemplation.
Remembering That It Happened Once by Wendell Berry
America the Beautiful Again by Richard Blanco
The Future by Billy Collins
Will You? by Carrie Fountain
You Still Dream by Nikki Grimes
Perhaps the World Ends Here by Joy Harjo
Let Evening Come by Jane Kenyon
Instructions on Not Giving Up by Ada Limón
Sometimes It Just Seems To Be Too Much by Ted Loder
V’ahavta by Aurora Levins Morales
How to Be Alone by Pádraig Ó Tuama
States of Being by Luci Shaw
You Are What You Break by Maren Tirabassi
Love After Love by Derek Walcott
Sweet Darkness by David Whyte
Try to Praise the Mutilated World by Adam Zagajewski
You might find that a version of lectio divina works for your encounter with poetry. If a particular word or phrase strikes you, you might use it in centering prayer. Poems are also a treasure trove for journaling if you are brave enough to pick up your pen and write about all that is revealed to you in these poems. Or you might use the following prompts to explore the worlds within these words and within yourself and your God.
This is certainly not a complete list of beloved poetry. Is there a poem that you love that is not on this list? Please add to the list by sharing your favorites in the comments.
Saving this anthology of poems to come back to again and again!