This week on the Love Letters, Life, and Other Conversations Podcast Jane and Wendy discuss the poem A Brief for the Defense by American Poet Jack Gilbert as a love letter. 

Wendy and Jane talk about the act of allowing for delight and richness in life, and that our joy does not take the joy away from someone else.

 They talk about;

• How one person's experience of joy may not at all be the same as another.
• That if we focus on injustice and are allowed only to be happy when no one is suffering, we will have a world of only suffering. 
• That injustice is not to be disregarded, but that gratitude and joy are to be given their place as well, and how in turn this actually gives us the opportunity to do something about the injustices we see. 
• Not to let other people steal your joy

Wendy’s Takeaway

• ‘We must risk delight.'

Jane’s Takeaway

• ‘We can do without pleasure.’ but, there must be a choice because some of us can’t. She will take away to really look into the difference between pleasure and delight. 

Full Text for Jack Gilbert Poem: A Brief for the Defense

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You are invited to share your love letters with them for consideration for a future conversation.  Email your love letter to [email protected]

What is a love letter?  

It is a letter, a text, a poem, a direct message, a drawing, a voice message, a watercolor, a recipe, a cup of tea, a smile, a home-baked meal delivered.  It's anything that connects us and makes us feel all those messy emotions, that without life would be pretty beige.

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Jane Webster
@janewebsterthefrenchtable

Wendy Harrop
@phineaswrighthouse

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