Poetry

In planning some revision lesson for literature classes, I looked at a lot of poems recently, and dug out poetry that I bought over the years to search for those which might be more palatable to the typical neighbourhood secondary school kid. There are the funny silly ones at Giggle Poetry, serious ones that I typed out from this book Teaching with Fire, and of course the classics like Wordsworth and Blake, which I decided the kids will probably find too 'cheem'.

Reading so much poetry these days makes me feel rather more thoughtful and retrospective - poetry does tend to make people feel rather melancholic, these little written pieces of bittersweet realities and dreams. Let me share with you one here from Czeslaw Milosz - although it is a blissfully happy poem, it still conveys a zen-like contentment rather than exuberant joy.

Gift
Czeslaw Milosz

A day so happy.
Fog lifted early, I worked in the garden.
Hummingbirds were stopping over honeysuckle flowers.
There was no thing on earth I wanted to possess.
I knew no one worth my envying him.
Whatever evil I had suffered, I forgot.
To think that once I was the same man did not embarrass me.
In my body I felt no pain.
When straightening up, I saw the blue sea and sails.