I can think of no better poem for launching Mindfulness Mondays than “On How to Pick and Eat Poems” by Phyllis Cole-Dai. It serves as a preface poem to the collection in Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems (one of the two sources for our #Mindfulness Mondays poems -see more on this below), and invites you to enter into poems in a tangible, earthy, mindful way. It suggests that you not only read poems but savor them, to “Let its juice spill over your tongue. / Let your reading of it teach you / what sort of creature you are / and the nature of the ground you walk upon.”
Many thanks to Phyllis for her permission to post the full poem here.
Now take a moment, catch your breath, and take a bite of today’s poem.
On How to Pick and Eat Poems
—Phyllis Cole-Dai
Stop whatever it is you’re doing.
Come down from the attic.
Grab a bucket or basket and head for light.
That’s where the best poems grow, and in the dappled dark.
Go slow. Watch out for thorns and bears.
When you find a good bush, bow
to it, or take off your shoes.
Pluck. This poem. That poem. Any poem.
It should slip off the stem easy, just a little tickle.
No need to sniff first, judge the color, test the firmness—
you can only know it’s ripe if you taste.
So put a poem upon your lips. Chew its pulp.
Let its juice spill over your tongue.
Let your reading of it teach you
what sort of creature you are
and the nature of the ground you walk upon.
Bring your whole life out loud to this one poem.
Eating one poem can save you, if you’re hungry enough.
Take companions poem-picking when you can.
Visit wild and lovely and forgotten places, broken
and hidden and walled up spaces. Reach into brambles,
stain your skin, mash words against your teeth, for love.
And always leave some poems within easy reach for
the next picker, in kinship with the unknown.
If ever you carry away more poems than you need,
go on home to your kitchen, and make good jam.
Don’t be in a rush, they’re sure to keep.
Some will even taste better with age,
a rich batch of preserves.
Store up jars and jars of jam. Plenty for friends.
Plenty for the long, howling winter. Plenty for strangers.
Plenty for all the bread in this broken world.
“On How to Pick and Eat Poems” by Phyllis Cole-Dai. © Phyllis Cole-Dai. Offered in profound gratitude to the community of A Year of Being Here and newly revised in Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems.
Art credit: “Berry Red Vintage Berry Bucket,” photograph by FoxberryHill.
How to participate in #Mindfulness Mondays
We are delighted to be launching Mindfulness Mondays today! Here’s the plan for how it will work and how you can participate.
Each Monday, I’ll post all or part of a poem here on the #TeachingWithHeart blog and on our Facebook page. Why only part of a poem? Well, we don’t have permission to reprint all of the poems online. But we are allowed to post a few lines – so I’ll post a few to peak your interest and motivate you to carry out your #Mindfulness Monday poetry practice. (I figure we all can use this kind of help.)
Our hope is that you’ll purchase the two books and get the poems in their entirety. That way, we can all be “on the same page” in our virtual poetry club.
All told, it’s an investment of $41.90 for two books, for over 250 poems – about 17 cents a poem/a week. Click here to purchase Teaching with Heart.
Special deal! From now to Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14th), purchase Poetry of Presence at this link for free shipping (book rate, U.S. only), a saving of $3 per book.
Poetry of Presence is also available through the Grayson Books, Barnes & Noble and Amazon. Teaching with Heart is also available through Barnes & Noble, Indie Bound and Amazon. As you may have noticed, I list Amazon last. While Amazon may save you a few dollars, authors get a much higher percentage of the price and royalties when you buy their books directly from them or their publishers. Just something worth knowing…
If you miss a week or two – that’s fine. Life has a way of stepping in. I suspect once you and I get into this habit, we’ll look forward to these quiet starts to our week. (If you do miss a week, go to #Mindfulness Mondays for an ongoing list of the posted poems.)
We’d love to hear from you!
Please feel free to post a word, a phrase, a short thought here in the blog’s comment section or on Facebook. Perhaps even perhaps share the poem with a friend or fellow teacher or invite them to join in on #Mindfulness Mondays.
For more information, contact us at teachingwithheartfirepoetry@gmail.com
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