Making Discoveries: A guest post for The Bookworm Written by Jessica Goody

Hello everyone and TGIF. Please join me in giving a warm welcome to Jessica Goody author of  Phoenix: Transformation Poems  to my blog today as she stops by for a guest post and shares her poem titled Discoveries, just in time for National Poetry Month.

Making Discoveries: A guest post for The Bookworm

Written by Jessica Goody

I am endlessly fascinated by art, history, and the natural world, and all three deeply influence my writing. For most of my life I intended to become a marine biologist, and although my cerebral palsy prevented me from realizing that dream, I am an environmentalist, and much of my poetry is inspired by nature–especially the sea.

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An EveryDay Thing by Nancy Richardson

source: free review copy via Poetic Book Tours
title:  An Everyday Thing
author: Nancy Richardson
genre: poetry
published: July 27, 2018
pages: 53

About:
Richardson’s poems concern coming of age in the rust-belt of Ohio during a period of decay of the physical and political structures that made the region once solid and predictable. Her poems chart the shifting of the foundations upon which a life is built and the unpredictability of events that have profound personal and political consequences, including the shootings at Kent State University.

My thoughts:

I love reading poetry, there is something special about it. I like it when poems conjure up feelings and emotions. I feel everyone interprets poems differently, it is a personal thing. I enjoy reading poems over and over again to get a feel for them. Today I am sharing my thoughts on a collection of poems called An Everyday Thing by Nancy Richardson.

National Poetry Month: Elizabeth Barrett Browning

April is National Poetry Month and I have been sharing a few of my favorite poems here on my blog. If you visit The Literature Network you can find the work of several authors to read and enjoy for free, like Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death….”

This poem from Sonnets from the Portuguese: A Celebration of Love is a favorite. I love how she says “I love thee with the passion put to use…In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose with my lost saints…”

What do you think? Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping in.

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disclaimer: Nothing in this post is available for download, the photo is my own.

National Poetry Month: Anne Sexton

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April is National Poetry Month. I enjoy reading poetry, the beauty and rhythm of the words, the way a poem can evoke feelings in the reader. I find that reading poetry is a form of catharsis.

Today I will share a snippet of one of my favorite poets, the phenomenal and intense Anne Sexton.

From You, Doctor Martin:

And we are magic talking to itself,
noisy and alone. I am queen of all my sins
forgotten. Am I still lost?
Once I was beautiful. Now I am myself,
counting this row and that row of moccasins
waiting on the silent shelf….

-quoted from The Complete Poems: Anne Sexton. Read From You, Doctor Martin in its entirety by clicking here.

Have you read Anne Sexton? Who is your favorite poet?

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disclaimer: Nothing in this post is available for download, the photo is my own. Some of the links in the post are affiliate links. If you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission.

Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

source: purchased
title: Milk and Honey
author: Rupi Kaur/Twitter
genre: poetry
published: 2014
pages: 204
rated: 4 out of 5 stars

blurb:
#1 New York Times bestseller Milk and Honey is a collection of poetry and prose about survival. About the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity.

The book is divided into four chapters, and each chapter serves a different purpose. Deals with a different pain. Heals a different heartache. Milk and Honey takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them because there is sweetness everywhere if you are just willing to look.

my thoughts:
I went to Barnes & Noble with my daughter recently. I love our trips to the bookstore and library because she tends to find really interesting books. We didn’t have anything particular in mind when we went, just stopping to browse on a Saturday morning while out running errands. After a little while, she came up to me with a copy of Milk and Honey and said “Mom, I’ve heard so much about this one. I want to read it.”
She read it first and she would come and read passages to me that she liked.

it must hurt to know
I am your most
beautiful
regret
p.94, Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

I read Milk and Honey afterwards in one sitting. This is a collection of moving poetry by Rupi Kaur. There are sketches by the author with some of the poems. The book is separated into four parts, the hurting, the loving, the breaking and the healing. There are themes of abuse, heartache, family, finding oneself and healing within these poems.