One Page Poetry Circle Archive

Welcome to the One Page Poetry Circle!

Date: April 21, 2026
Theme: Poetry and Dance
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 18th spring 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 1816 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 can still participate by email.

Our topic for April 21 is Poetry and Dance.

Maya Angelou's "Country Lover" conveys a picture of a dance through playful language and blues imagery expressed in fragmentary couplets.

• Funky blues
• Keen toed shoes
• High water pants
• Saddy night dance
• Red soda water
• And anybody's daughter

In Hilaire Belloc's "Tarantella," named after a dance of the same name, the fast-paced language and well-placed rhymes mirror the movement of someone who has been bitten by a tarantula:

• Do you remember an Inn, Miranda?
• Do you remember an Inn?
• And the tedding and the spreading of the straw for a bedding,
• And the fleas that tease in the High Pyrenees,
• And the wine that tasted of the tar?
• And the cheers and the jeers of the young muleteers
• Under the vine of the dark verandah?

We met on March 17 for Poetry and the Irish.

Gail opened the circle with the most renowned of Irish Poets, William Butler Yeats' "The Lake Isle of Innisfree," noting that though a Protestant, Yeats considered himself Irish. The group discussed why he wrote nine bean-rows instead of another number. Two possible reasons: Yeats wanted to show plenty, while leaving room for more; and because nine and bean create a slant rhyme. What are your thoughts on these opening lines?:

• I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
• And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
• Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
• And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

Karen followed with Oscar Wilde's poem "Magdalen Walks," its title referring to an actual meadow at Oxford College. In the simple rhyme scheme of ABBA, which is echoed in the line indents, the poem describes innocent spring birds announcing the season in a fanfare of tweets and chirps as prelude to the predatory lark and kingfisher, omens of good fortune for the hunt:

• See! the lark starts up from his bed in the meadow there,
•     Breaking the gossamer threads and the nets of dew,
•     And flashing adown the river, a flame of blue!
• The kingfisher flies like an arrow, and wounds the air.

Cate found Pádraig Ó Tuama, a poet with an interest in language, religion and conflict. Besides writing poetry he presents "Poetry Unbound," a podcast from On Being Studios. You can read more about him in a New Yorker profile (December 2022). In "[the] north[ern] [of] ireland" the author uses plain language and unusual line breaks to ask thoughtful questions about the division of Ireland: "the reality is/that whether we/change/or whether we stay/the same/these questions will/remain./Who are we/to be/with one/another?"

Daria chose the centuries old and beloved Irish blessing attributed to Anonymous. The group discussed the meaning of the first two lines.

• May the road rise up to meet you.
• May the wind be always at your back.
• May the sun shine warm upon your face;
• The rains fall soft upon your fields
• and until we meet again,
• may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Christiana brought "A Single Rose" by Leland Bardwell who lived a bohemian lifestyle and was considered an "outsider." The poet speaks of willing her body to science and imagines the comments made by students: "My God, is that a liver?/And those brown cauliflowers are lungs?" The answer comes: "Yes, sir, a fine example of how not to live."

Nancy brought "Cill Aodáin" by the blind poet, Antoine O Raifteiri, which is also known as "Anois Teacht an Earraigh," a poem she sent to her birthmother in honor of St. Patrick's Day. The words express a longing to return to a beloved place, which can be physical or in the poet's mind. Here are the opening lines translated into English by Michael Coady: "With the coming of spring the light will be gaining./So after Brid's feast day I'll set my course—/Since it entered my head I'll never rest easy/Till I'm landed again in the heart of Mayo."

Greg read John O'Donohue's "On the Death of the Beloved" saying he shared this poem at a close family member's funeral. The words remind us: "Let us not look for you only in memory,/Where we would grow lonely without you./You would want us to find you in presence,/Besides us when beauty brightens,/When kindness glows/And music echoes eternal tones."

Diane brought "Digging" by Seamus Heaney who compares his long career to his father's and grandfather's before him, both using their tools to cut into the turf and tough soil to find edible potatoes. The poem begins by describing his own tools and ends with a metaphor of his pen as a shovel. "Between my finger and my thumb/The squat pen rests./I'll dig with it."

Mary chose "The Second Coming," the second poem of the evening by William Butler Yeats who had a strong belief in mysticism. Written at the end of World War I, the poet presents a broken and dark vision of a world in which: "The falcon cannot hear the falconer." The poem ends by predicting the second coming as an anti-Christ:

• And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
• Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

AnnaLee completed the circle with James Joyce's "On the Beach at Fontana" from Poetry 1917, in which a father tenderly protects his son from the wilds of the shoreline: "From whining wind and colder/Grey sea I wrap him warm,/And touch his fine-boned boyish shoulder/And trembling arm." The three-verse poem is built of many recurring sounds: "Wind whines and whines the shingle," "A senile sea numbers each single/Slime-silvered stone."

Abigail was moved by Katharine Tynan's "Joining the Colours" as she describes the young Irish men going off to fight during WWI, fighting for the British: "There they go marching all in step so gay!/Smooth-cheeked and golden, food for shells and guns./Blithely they go as to a wedding day,/The mothers' sons."

June admires the last stanza of William Butler Yeats' "Remorse for Intemperate Speech," "so much expressed, so powerfully, in so few words":

• Out of Ireland have we come.
• Great hatred, little room,
• Maimed us at the start.
• I carry from my mother's womb
• A fanatic heart.

Carol stumbled upon Eavan Boland's "The Black Lace Fan My Mother Gave Me" (1990) in which an heirloom leads back to a romantic story. "The poet examines the fan for clues, the fan is exotic and potentially erotic; the past is another country, the narrative unresolved": "The blackbird on this first sultry morning,/in summer, finding buds, worms, fruit,/feels the heat. Suddenly she puts out her wing—/the whole, full, flirtatious span of it."

Kai sent Patrick Kavanagh's "On Raglan Road": "On Grafton Street in November we tripped lightly along the ledge/Of the deep ravine where can be seen the worth of passion's pledge/The Queen of Hearts still making tarts and I not making hay." "A poignant poem about love, loss, and regret written by an Irish poet and firmly grounded in specific locations in Dublin. The poet's memories of his emotions and actions are tied inextricably to the places where they occurred."

Lorendy sent "In the Forest," by Oscar Wilde, noting that the poet "describes his unfulfilled desire to pursue a faun which many interpret as a metaphor for an unattainable lover": "Out of the mid-wood's twilight/Into the meadow's dawn,/Ivory limbed and brown-eyed,/Flashes my Faun!"

Roger thought of another traditional Irish blessing:

• May love and laughter light your days,
• And warm your heart and home.
• May good and faithful friends be yours,
• Wherever you may roam.

If you can make the April 21 meeting, we ask that you bring a Poem concerning or mentioning dance, with copies for others if you can.

If you're unable to attend, send us the poem you've selected with a comment on why you chose it. We'll share the poems with you by email and through our blog

Choose a poem that is meaningful to you. Can't locate a poem you want to send? Try Poetry Foundation or poets.org. In the meantime, blog with us at onepagepoetrycircle.wordpress.com.

Spring 2026 Schedule
April 21: Poetry and Dance
May 19: Poetry and Poetic Devices

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.