Poems for eagles (and humans too)

A new offering of poetry, for these liminal times

Listen to me read the post…

One thing I know for sure… the more it feels like the world is burning and billionaires are busy throwing logs on the fire, the more I need art, poetry and music. Joyful, subversive, resistant, uplifting - all of it.

I wrote the above on social media last week, right after sharing my last post about whether there is hope for humanity. I think, after writing that rather heavy post, I needed to seek out sources of lightness. Since then, I have poured myself back into poetry – writing, reading, listening and contemplating.

In the most challenging moments of life, I often go poem-hunting. It's like wandering the shoreline and collecting seashells and beach glass. I flip through poetry books at the bookstore, follow the breadcrumbs through various poetry websites, and gather whatever trinkets will help me find my path through the heaviness. Often, during those times, my own words form into poems as well.

I turn to poetry because it feels like sanctuary for my soul. It’s a safe place where I feel known and not judged. It’s not bossy, it doesn’t try to fix me, it doesn’t give me a set of rules I’ll forget to follow – it just invites me to lean into my own fumbling humanity and see myself and the world in a new way. (Sounds a lot like holding space, doesn’t it?)

Poetry has the capacity to carry paradox and expansiveness with as few words as possible. It tells the truth, but “tells it slant” (in the words of Emily Dickinson). It fits well with my work in holding space, because it thrives in liminal spaces. Poetry IS liminal – it lives in the space between what we once knew and what we have yet to discover.

“We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?” - from the movie Dead Poets Society, N.H. Kleinbaum (spoken by Robin Williams’ character)

Here’s one of the poems I wrote this week...

Poetry for eagles

How lucky I am to live in a world with moss!
And whales too.
Oh – and eagles! Can’t forget eagles!
(My daughter tells me I point them out
Every. Single. Time.
Perhaps there’s an eyeroll when she says it,
but she’ll just have to forgive me,
because I don’t plan to stop.)
I am also grateful for bouncy kangaroos
though I don’t get to see them often.
And fragile butterflies. (Have you seen the ones with transparent wings?!)
Wait... how can I forget pelicans?
And earthworms. And clouds.
Arbutus trees too (my favourite since I moved to the coast).
And maybe even pigs (though I confess to not feeling lucky
when I was a farm girl who had to feed them).

I like to think moss
feels the same about me.
I imagine the eagle writing a poem
like this one
after she catches sight of me
down here on the ground
looking up in wonder.
(Maybe her babies roll their eyes too,
but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t care.)

After spending so much time immersed in poetry in the last couple of weeks, I decided to start sharing, here on Substack, some of my favourites from my collection of over 300 poems (including a few that I’ve written).

For paid subscribers, I’m going to send out a weekly poem (every Monday), both in text form and in audio (with me reading it). Along with the poem, I’ll include some prompts, in case you want to use the poem for your journal practice, or you want to write a poem of your own. I’ll usually include a few thoughts about why the poem inspires me. Sometimes the poem will be the lyrics from a song and then I’ll include a link to a video or audio version.

I hope you’ll join me in this exploration of our humanity through poetry! You can share your responses to the poems in the comments on Substack. If you haven’t yet signed up for a paid membership, you can do so for as little as $10/month. When you join, you’ll also get weekly Lunchbox Notes from Tenderness and you’ll get access to my video series on the Core Needs Triad.