The First Poem You Ever Loved

thefirstpoemyoueverloved2015W
words by Anon.
GET THE PRINT
photo taken December 2015

one year ago: Dollops
two years ago: So Hard & So Soft
three years ago: Snowblind
four years ago: Stalking In The Stalks
five years ago: Sometimes He’s Sulky
six years ago: Camera Hog
seven years ago: Do you accept donations for Charlie?
eight years ago: Toy, An Interpretive Dance

5 Responses to “The First Poem You Ever Loved”

  1. Marg Says:

    The first poem I ever loved would make you cry for sure.

  2. mlaiuppa Says:

    Toss up.

    Two poems I discovered in junior high.

    Casey at the bat and The Ballad of the Harp Weaver by Edna St. Vincent Millay.

    I have eclectic tastes.

    I have a few now but this is my current favorite:

    Prayer After Eating by Wendell Berry

    I have taken in the light
    that quickened eye and leaf.
    May my brain be bright with praise
    of what I eat, in the brief blaze
    of motion and of thought.

    May I be worthy of my meat.

    This is the one I want read at my funeral:

    The Lesson of the Moth by Don Marquis

    i was talking to a moth
    the other evening
    he was trying to break into
    an electric light bulb
    and fry himself on the wires

    why do you fellows
    pull this stunt i asked him
    because it is the conventional
    thing for moths or why
    if that had been an uncovered
    candle instead of an electric
    light bulb you would
    now be a small unsightly cinder
    have you no sense

    plenty of it he answered
    but at times we get tired
    of using it
    we get bored with the routine
    and crave beauty
    and excitement
    fire is beautiful
    and we know that if we get
    too close it will kill us
    but what does that matter
    it is better to be happy
    for a moment
    and be burned up with beauty
    than to live a long time
    and be bored all the while
    so we wad all our life up
    into one little roll
    and then we shoot the roll
    that is what life is for
    it is better to be a part of beauty
    for one instant and then cease to
    exist than to exist forever
    and never be a part of beauty
    our attitude toward life
    is come easy go easy
    we are like human beings
    used to be before they became
    too civilized to enjoy themselves

    and before i could argue him
    out of his philosophy
    he went and immolated himself
    on a patent cigar lighter
    i do not agree with him
    myself i would rather have
    half the happiness and twice
    the longevity

    but at the same time i wish
    there was something i wanted
    as badly as he wanted to fry himself

  3. Marg Says:

    Wow, I like that one ! The last paragraph is an eye opener.

  4. Karen Says:

    We’ve had years of poems from your lens and Charlie.

  5. wright1 Says:

    Great image, as always. And great topic. For me, it’s this one:

    “The Star In The Hills”, by William Stafford.

    A star hit in the hills behind our house
    up where the grass turns brown touching the sky.

    Meteors have hit the world before, but this was
    near,
    and since TV; few saw, but many felt the shock.
    The state of California owns that land
    (and out from shore three miles), and any stars
    that come will be roped off and viewed on week-
    days 8 to 5.

    A guard who took the oath of loyalty and denied
    any police record told me this:
    “If you don’t have a police record yet
    you could take the oath and get a job
    if California should be hit by another star.”

    “I’d promise to be loyal to California
    and to guard any stars that hit it,” I said,
    “or any place three miles out from shore,
    unless the star was bigger than the state-
    in which case I’d be loyal to it.”

    But he said no exceptions were allowed,
    and he leaned against the state-owned meteor
    so calm and puffed a cork-tip cigarette
    that I looked down and traced with my foot in
    the dust
    and thought again and said,”OK- any star.”

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