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One Page Poetry Circle Archive
Welcome to the Virtual One Page Poetry Circle!
Date: September 19, 2023
Theme: Poetry from a favorite poetry book
Time: 5:30 – 6:30 pm
Place: St. Agnes Branch Library, 444 Amsterdam Ave, 3rd Fl. Or by email (see addresses below)
Find a poem! Show up! Or, send a poem by email!
We're back for the sixteenth fall season of the One Page Poetry Circle where people examine the works of established poets. While there is no instructor and this is not a workshop for personal writing, once a month OPPC gives everyone a place to become teachers and learners to explore the form, content, language and meaning of poetry. Since the circle began, participants have selected and discussed 1461 poems and have read countless others in pursuit of poetry that speaks to them.
GOOD NEWS:
The One Page Poetry Circle has returned to the St. Agnes Library.
In addition, for those who are unable to attend, you will still be able to participate by email.
If you can make the September 19th meeting, we ask that you bring a poem with you on the theme of Poetry from a favorite poetry book, with copies for others if you can.
If you're unable to attend, send us the poems you've selected with a comment on why you chose them. We'll share the poems with you in person, by email, and through our blog.
We have noticed that members of the One Page Poetry Circle often locate their poems for meetings by perusing a favorite poetry book. We want you to tell us about those books—how you got them and what they mean to you. Then choose one poem from the book to share.
Isaac Mizrahi states: "I live for Shakespeare sonnets. A special volume that I acquired when I was a teenager sits on my bedside table and I read from it often when I can't sleep or when I get down, and every time I learn things."
Abigail's favorite volume is a Norton anthology of English literature. "I have a volume that one of my older brothers used in college and I love reading a poem that he had read and made notes on. One poem that we both enjoyed was William Wordsworth's 'My Heart Leaps Up'; the poem, like the book, connects us to our earlier selves":
- My heart leaps up when I behold
- A rainbow in the sky:
- So was it when my life began;
- So is it now I am a man;
- So be it when I shall grow old,
- Or let me die!
- The Child is father of the Man;
- And I could wish my days to be
- Bound each to each by natural piety
AnnaLee's favorite is Part Three of An Introduction to Literature, by "that poet and defender of poetry, John Ciardi." "The volume, How Does a Poem Mean, was introduced to me by a beloved high school English teacher, Ms. Guccione. Today the tattered book is filled with my teenage margin notes as I struggled to find meaning in poems. I still love reciting Robert Graves' 'The Traveler's Curse after Misdirection' (from the Welsh)":
- May they wander stage by stage
- Of the same vain pilgrimage,
- Stumbling on, age after age,
- Night and day, mile after mile,
- At each and every step, a stile;
- At each and every stile, withal,
- May they catch their feet and fall;
- At each and every fall they take,
- May a bone within them break;
- And may the bones that break within
- Not be, for variation’s sake,
- Now rib, now thigh, now arm, now shin,
- But always, without fail, THE NECK.
Whether a poem comes from a book you have had for a long time or one that you just discovered, choose a poem that has meaning to you. Then email it to one of us by September 19, with a brief comment on why you chose it. Can't locate a poem you want to send? Check out Poetry Foundation or poets.org.
In the meantime, please blog with us at onepagepoetrycircle.wordpress.com.
Fall 2023 Schedule
September 19: Poem from a favorite poetry book
October 17: Poetry and Change
November 21: Poetry and Promises
December 19: Poetry and Mysticism
Abigail Burnham Bloom, abigailburnhambloom(at)gmail(dot)com
AnnaLee Wilson, annalee(at)kaeserwilson(dot)com
The One Page Poetry Circle is sponsored by the New York Public Library and is open to all. St. Agnes Branch Library is handicap accessible.
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