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.

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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.

Blog Tour: Poetry and Ponderings by Diamante Lavendar

Hello everyone. Please join me in welcoming Diamante Lavendar author of Poetry and Ponderings as she stops in today to chat about the writing process….

I have always been an off the cuff type of writer. I am inspired much of the time by spirit. I have fostered a relationship with the spirit world that can only be described as finding meaning and truth derived from difficulty. This meaning and truth then becomes embedded in my heart and soul. When I sit down to write, words come into my head and I put them on paper. It is easy for me to type them but difficult to hold their meaning. The reason why it is difficult is because my life is my muse. And many times not in a happy way. I have been through much turmoil and agony. I believe I came here for spiritual graduate work and I got what I came here for. It has been grueling but also eye opening and inspirational at the same time if that makes any sense. I have found that the harshest reality can bring the greatest spiritual revelations. This has been the course of my life.

Pablo Neruda: If You Forget Me

Pablo Neruda breaks my heart in the best way. I can’t pick a favorite, but If You Forget Me is up there. His work is best read in Spanish as he wrote it, there is something that gets lost in translation but the work is still beautiful nonetheless in English. He evokes emotion with his words and I dip into my little Neruda collection from time to time just to savor it.

everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals,
were little boats
that sail
toward those isles of yours that wait for me.
-read the poem in its entirety here

What do you think of this one?

April is National Poetry Month, follow this link for more.

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disclaimer:
The photo above is my own and is not to be removed from this post.