So, we are trying to find great readings for the wedding that are reflective of the both of us. We have asked two different people to read, and so we are tring to find two different readings.
A few weeks ago I met with Claire Minnis to talk through a few different poems. Claire is a student at MU and has always been very interested in poetry and is someone who really embodies the complexity of a good poem. I knew I wanted to talk with her and see if she had any ideas.
So, we met over coffee downtown at this new (and lovely!) coffee house/bakery and talked for about an hour.
Things I love about Claire:
1.) I could sit and talk with her for a very long time and not notice a single minute tick by. She is a person who can pull you in.
2.) She really loves poetry. Good Poetry. And she is willing to share with someone like me to is looking for something pretty speciffic. I think when you share good poetry with someone, it is like you see into their soul. You have to be vulnerable to share a piece of yourself.
3.) The list could go on...
So we talked poems. A lot. And she shared some GREAT things with me pertaining to love and life, and a little of other things too. She just shared with me. I walked away with some great ideas. And let them "sit and grow" for a few weeks. Just the other night I sat down with AHB and read some to him. (I knew this could go one of two ways...)
These comments came after each poem I read. Please know that I went into this KNOWING what would be said.
Comment #1: "Well. Ok. I mean, that's nice."
Comment #2: "Uhhh. Ok."
Comment #3: "Why do all of these poems talk about lips and other places..."
Comment #4: "I just don't get it. I mean, it's about produce. What does that have to do with anything...?"
After it was said and done, I had to laugh. I know these are not appropriate for a wedding. Well, not for our wedding. :)
So, here are poems (I LOVE) that we will not be reading at the wedding.
For Good Reason. :)
A Dialogue of Watching
Let me celebrate you. I
Have never known anyone
More beautiful than you. I
Walking beside you, watching
You move beside me, watching
That still grace of hand and thigh,
Watching your face change with words
You do not say, watching your
Solemn eyes as they turn to me,
Or turn inward, full of knowing,
Slow or quick, watching your full
Lips part and smile or turn grave,
Watching your narrow waist, your
Proud buttocks in their grace, like
A sailing swan, an animal,
Free, your own, and never
To be subjugated, but
Abandoned, as I am to you,
Overhearing your perfect
Speech of motion, of love and
Trust and security as
You feed or play with our children.
I have never known any
One more beautiful than you.
— Kenneth Rexroth
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Walt Whitman (1819–1892). Leaves of Grass. 1900.
44. When I heard at the Close of the Day
WHEN I heard at the close of the day how my name had been receiv’d with plaudits in the capitol, still it was not a happy night for me that follow’d;
And else, when I carous’d, or when my plans were accomplish’d, still I was not happy;
But the day when I rose at dawn from the bed of perfect health, refresh’d, singing, inhaling the ripe breath of autumn,
When I saw the full moon in the west grow pale and disappear in the morning light,
When I wander’d alone over the beach, and undressing, bathed, laughing with the cool waters, and saw the sun rise, 5
And when I thought how my dear friend, my lover, was on his way coming, O then I was happy;
O then each breath tasted sweeter—and all that day my food nourish’d me more—and the beautiful day pass’d well,
And the next came with equal joy—and with the next, at evening, came my friend;
And that night, while all was still, I heard the waters roll slowly continually up the shores,
I heard the hissing rustle of the liquid and sands, as directed to me, whispering, to congratulate me, 10
For the one I love most lay sleeping by me under the same cover in the cool night,
In the stillness, in the autumn moonbeams, his face was inclined toward me,
And his arm lay lightly around my breast—and that night I was happy.
---------------
Feasting - by Elizabeth Garber
I am so amazed to find myself kissing you
with such abandon,
filling myself with our kisses
astounding hunger for edges of lips and tongue.
Returning to feast again and again,
our bellies never overfilling from this banquet.
Returning in surprise,
in remembering,
in rediscovering,
such play of flavors of gliding lips
and forests of pressures and spaces.
The spaces between the branches
as delicious as finding the grove of lilies of the valley
blossoming just outside my door under the ancient oak.
"I've never held anyone this long," you said,
the second time you entered my kitchen.
I am the feast this kitchen was blessed to prepare
waiting for you to enter open mouthed in awe
in the mystery we've been given,
our holy feast.
--------------------
After Love
Afterwards, the compromise.
Bodies resume their boundaries.
These legs, for instance, mine.
Your arms take you back in.
Spoons of our fingers, lips
admit their ownership.
The bedding yawns, a door
blows aimlessly ajar
and overhead, a plane
singsongs coming down.
Nothing is changed, except
there was a moment when
the wolf, the mongering wolf
who stands outside the self
lay lightly down, and slept.
Maxine Kumin
--------------------
Hope you enjoy. :)
mmp
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