Today’s poem is not dissimilar in tone or content to the piece included in Episode 159 recently.

That piece, by Mary Schmich, and now popularly known as “Wear Sunscreen”, was a sort of commencement address, a speech delivered to college graduates as they prepare to enter the “real world” and find their way.

This poem by Max Ehrmann also has that air.

Max Ehrmann was an American writer and poet who died in 1945. Despite producing a number of works he was not well known during his life, which he was all too aware, once noting:

"Perhaps when I am dead, some browser in libraries will come upon me, and, seeing that I was not altogether unworthy, will resurrect me from the dust of things forgotten."

That’s exactly what has happened with Desiderata (from the Latin, “Things desired”), a prose poem he wrote at the age of 55 in the 1920s and only became widely known long after his death and is now commonly seen in framed wallprints.

You can read the poem here

***

For a detailed outline of the mission and purpose behind this podcast, please check out Episode 100, "Why Poems for the Speed of Life?", in your podcast player or ⁠⁠⁠⁠click here to listen on Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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Once Upon a Time by Alex-Productions | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://onsound.eu/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  | Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

Poetry, says Wendy Morton, is the shortest distance between two hearts.

The first time I read that quote, I read it as the shortest dance between two hearts, and I like that too.

Wendy Morton is a Canadian writer and poet.

The blurb of her memoir, Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast: Taking Poetry Public Across Canada, says that she has “probably done more to bring poetry and publicity together than any other living Canadian. Since 2001, she has relentlessly taken poetry out of bookstores and coffeeshops, out onto the street--"even into the air "--bringing corporate sponsors, poets and audiences together in new and exciting ways.”

This poem, "Compost Piles", is a gorgeous little riff about a simple daily ritual, bringing the bucket to the compost pile, spread over the expanse of a year, and all the little recollections it prompts.

Mindfulness has become big business in recent years. This poem is the essence of mindfulness: the worm, the grass from the year’s first cut, the half-eaten slice of bread all bringing memories of their moments back to the surface.

And it brings to mind also that old teaching from Newton’s science: that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but only changed from one form into another.

The compost bin is the daily evidence of that transformation, as this year’s cuttings and throw-aways and deadness give way to next year’s life.

You can read the poem here

***

For a detailed outline of the mission and purpose behind this podcast, please check out Episode 100, "Why Poems for the Speed of Life?", in your podcast player or ⁠⁠⁠⁠click here to listen on Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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Once Upon a Time by Alex-Productions | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://onsound.eu/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  | Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

As I record this, in September, the year has swayed totally from summer to autumn. A week ago we had a heatwave, the mercury rose past 30 degrees Celsius and everyone went to work in shorts. Today, the branches are swaying in the wind, the rain is heavy, the temperatures have dropped and the evenings are closing in.

This poem by Seamus Heaney is set in late August, at that moment between the passage of time from summer to autumn.

There is a much bigger passage of time here too, though, from youth to whatever comes next … maturity? Experience? Maybe, more than anything, a fading away as our bodies and our lives, like the fruit in the bowl, turn sour?

Where Dylan Thomas raged, raged against the dying of the light, Seamus Heaney is altogether more measured in tone at time’s travel, at summer giving way to autumn, at the fruit turning rotted in the bowl.

As I record this podcast, in September 2023, it is 10 years and 1 month since Heaney passed away.

We still have his words, immortal as they are. More than anything, I miss his voice.

There is no-one better at reading his own work than Seamus Heaney.

I will try to do it justice here, but if you check the description, I will also place a link to Heaney performing it.

You can read the poem here

Listen to Seamus Heaney read “Blackberry Picking”

***

For a detailed outline of the mission and purpose behind this podcast, please check out Episode 100, "Why Poems for the Speed of Life?", in your podcast player or ⁠⁠⁠⁠click here to listen on Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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Once Upon a Time by Alex-Productions | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://onsound.eu/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  | Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

Patricia Williams is an American poet and retired former professor in design at the University of Wisconsin.

She started to write poetry in 2013, believing that (in the words on her LinkedIn page):

“Art, design, music and the literary arts are natural partners. All creatively examine life and living.”

“A creative examination of life and living” could be the tagline for this podcast.

Williams has published a number of chapbooks and collections, including Midwest Medley: Places & People, Wild Things & Weather” in 2018. Her newest book is "Rejection to Acceptance — 57 poems that finally made it”, a collection of poems and stories about being a poet and the life-cycle of poems, from their artistic inception all the way to publication, through all the uncertainty in the middle.

Some of her poems, rhythmic and often laced with undertones or overtones of humour, call to mind the work of the brilliant English poet Pam Ayres. You can hear a poem by Pam Ayres, “Woodland Burial” in Episode 43 of this podcast.

“Age as Measure” is a lovely little observation on the ups and downs of age.

In general, I think, we consider young as good and old as bad, but Williams here alerts us that age itself is a pointless metric, one that we should leave aside and look instead at the true nature of the thing itself, whether that thing is an iconic architect or a piece of cheese.

You can read the poem here

You can find more about Patricia Williams's work here

For a detailed outline of the mission and purpose behind this podcast, please check out Episode 100, "Why Poems for the Speed of Life?", in your podcast player or ⁠⁠⁠⁠click here to listen on Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠.

If you’re on social media, you can follow on Twitter here, Instagram here and Facebook here.

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To leave the show a review:

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Once Upon a Time by Alex-Productions | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://onsound.eu/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  | Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

Emily Dickinson was an American poet, who lived in Amherst, Massachusetts between 1830 and 1886.

She wrote more than 1800 poems in her lifetime but just 10 of those were published while she was still alive. She was reclusive and considered eccentric, but in many ways she was far from withdrawn — she maintained regular written correspondence with at least a hundred people during her life.

Her poems are often dark in tone and mood, often dense in their construction. and don’t have typical rhythms or rhyme or even titles. But despite all that, her work has become a go-to for readers everywhere over the past century.

This short poem does have rhyme and rhythm, as well as a soulfulness and generosity and an awareness of pain that is almost, itself, painful in the depth of its feeling.

You can read the poem here

This is the second Emily Dickinson poem to feature on this podcast. You can go all the way back to Episode 13 to find “Hope is the thing with feathers”

For a detailed outline of the mission and purpose behind this podcast, please check out Episode 100, "Why Poems for the Speed of Life?", in your podcast player or ⁠⁠⁠⁠click here to listen on Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠.

If you’re on social media, you can follow on Twitter here, Instagram here and Facebook here.

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Once Upon a Time by Alex-Productions | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://onsound.eu/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  | Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

You can read the poem here

For a detailed outline of the mission and purpose behind this podcast, please check out Episode 100, "Why Poems for the Speed of Life?", in your podcast player or ⁠⁠⁠⁠click here to listen on Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠.

If you’re on social media, you can follow on Twitter here, Instagram here and Facebook here.

Subscribe to or follow the show for free wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Once Upon a Time by Alex-Productions | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://onsound.eu/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  | Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

I have memories of my grandparents, who seemed to give everything. They didn’t have money to give, but giving was not about money. Giving was everything else. It was the open door, kettle on and a packet of biscuits always stowed away, ready and waiting for a visitor.

That way of being seems to be rare nowadays. As people went from having nothing to having something, they suddenly had something to protect, something to conserve, and the feeling of lack and scarcity that characterises life for so many of us means we are careful to protect and conserve, fearful of a tomorrow where we find ourselves in need, and perhaps driven to that fear by a culture of advertising that pervades everything and always seems to tell us exactly what we’re missing.

Giving is not just for charity or community.

More and more, giving can also have a central role to play in a successful business, but only if it takes place without any expectation of a return. Because giving with expectation of receiving is not giving at all.

I remember Gary Vaynerchuk, a poster-child of Internet marketing and entrepreneurship and hustle, talking about this, about the importance of giving in his businesses.

“When you put others in front of yourself, whether intended or unintended, things just happen,” he said.

He went on, “It’s magical. Be it in life or business, I implore you to always seek to be the giver first. If you can give without expectation, you’ve got everything to gain. It’s not an easy trait to acquire but it’s certainly something I advise everyone to work towards. Not only will it make you feel good, but it’ll provide you the leverage that you can utilize if the opportunity comes knocking.”

This piece is one section of Gibran's great prose poem book, The Prophet, which was published in 1923.

During his lifetime, Gibran was considered and considered himself a painter, but a hundred years after the publication of The Prophet, his words continue to travel through time and space and deliver meaning and impact on many who come upon them.

It is the second piece from The Prophet to feature on this podcase. You can find “On Friendship” in Episode 93.

You can read "Giving" here

For a detailed outline of the mission and purpose behind this podcast, please check out Episode 100, "Why Poems for the Speed of Life?", in your podcast player or ⁠⁠⁠⁠click here to listen on Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠.

If you’re on social media, you can follow on Twitter here, Instagram here and Facebook here.

Subscribe to or follow the show for free wherever you listen to podcasts.

To leave the show a review:

On Spotify. Open the Spotify app (iOS or Android), ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠find the show⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and tap to rate five-stars. (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Details here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)On Apple. Open your Apple Podcasts app, find the show and tap to rate five-stars. (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Details here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)On Podchaser. Open the Podchaser website, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠find the show⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and tap to rate five-stars. (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Details here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)

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Once Upon a Time by Alex-Productions | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://onsound.eu/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  | Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

Mary Schmich (”Schmeek”) is a retired American journalist and columnist, who wrote for the Chicago Tribune for most of her career. She won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2012, for, the Pulitzer prize ran, “her wide range of down-to-earth columns that reflect the character and capture the culture of her famed city.”

This is her most famous piece, a column that appeared on the first of June 1997 as a mock-graduation speech. Graduation or commencement addresses are commonplace environment for wise elders to dispense knowing life advice to young people setting out on life’s road.

In those pre-social media days it still went viral, through word of mouth and early email, but it was really made famous by the Australian film director Baz Luhrmann, who set it to music and released it on an album in 1999.

You can read the piece here

For a detailed outline of the mission and purpose behind this podcast, please check out Episode 100, "Why Poems for the Speed of Life?", in your podcast player or ⁠⁠⁠⁠click here to listen on Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠.

If you’re on social media, you can follow on Twitter here, Instagram here and Facebook here.

Subscribe to or follow the show for free wherever you listen to podcasts.

To leave the show a review:

On Spotify. Open the Spotify app (iOS or Android), ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠find the show⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and tap to rate five-stars. (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Details here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)On Apple. Open your Apple Podcasts app, find the show and tap to rate five-stars. (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Details here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)On Podchaser. Open the Podchaser website, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠find the show⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and tap to rate five-stars. (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Details here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)

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Once Upon a Time by Alex-Productions | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://onsound.eu/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  | Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

I found this poem in a little anthology called Poetry for a Lifetime, selected and annotated by Samuel Norfleet Etheredge in 1999.

Poetry for a Lifetime is available on that treasure trove of the Internet, archive.org, where you can borrow a PDF for an hour.

I dipped in and I found this poem.

Samuel Norfleet Etheredge was a World War II veteran, and heart surgeon, and lifelong advocate for poetry and the power of poems.

He died in 2011.

Priscilla Leonard was the pen-name of Emily Bissell, a social worker and social advocate who lived at the turn of the 20th century.

The poem is a little allegory of what happiness amounts to. It suggests that happiness is a crystal that's smashed in a million pieces, and all we can ever do is hope to gather up some of them and strive to avoid looking into the distance at the pieces of the crystal that can't be ours.

It is a gentle reminder to accept, to be grateful, to look at what we have and not what we don't.

You can read the poem here

***

For a detailed outline of the mission and purpose behind this podcast, please check out Episode 100, "Why Poems for the Speed of Life?", in your podcast player or ⁠⁠⁠⁠click here to listen on Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠.

If you’re on social media, you can follow on Twitter here, Instagram here and Facebook here.

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Music Credit:

Once Upon a Time by Alex-Productions | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://onsound.eu/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  | Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a 19th century American poet and educator. Wikipedia tells me he was the first American to complete a full translation of Dante's Divine Comedy and he was one of the so-called Fireside Poets of New England, a hugely popular set of 19th century poets who became the first Americans to really rival English poets in popularity.

That status — the poet of the common man or woman — owes much to poems like this one. “The Day is Done” is not only not grand, it actively campaigns against grand poetry.

It says, please don’t give me grand poetry that’s all energy and endeavour, when all I want is something to chase away the stresses of the day.

This is poetry that’s much closer to an everyday prayer, or a song to singalong to.

A century and a half after it was written, it can still play that role.

You can read the poem here

***

For a detailed outline of the mission and purpose behind this podcast, please check out Episode 100, "Why Poems for the Speed of Life?", in your podcast player or ⁠⁠⁠⁠click here to listen on Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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Music Credit:

Once Upon a Time by Alex-Productions | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://onsound.eu/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  | Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

I am a great believer in personal development. In fact, this podcast, this project, is a marriage of two things that interest me greatly — the yearning that seems to be innate in the human mind and human heart to improve ourselves, to develop our skills and knowledge, to broaden our mind and our horizons, and the power of literature to move us and transcend us.

Great literature — novels, poetry, plays, films and film scripts — can be as powerful an agent of change and personal development as any other.

I first came across this poem in a classic of personal development, the grandfather of so-called “self-help books”, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.

It reminds me of a quote often attributed to Henry Ford, the inventor of the Ford motor-car: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't – you're right!”

The author of this poem, Walter Wintle, is a complete ephemera. There is almost no detail anywhere on the Internet about his life, and there is a strong argument to be made that he did not even exist, and that the name was a pseudonym of somebody else.

First published in the Unity journal in 1905 and was included in Think and Grow Rich in 1937, it is a potent reminder to us all that the greatest thing we can do in our everyday challenges is change the way we think about them.

You can read the poem here

***

For a detailed outline of the mission and purpose behind this podcast, please check out Episode 100, "Why Poems for the Speed of Life?", in your podcast player or ⁠⁠⁠⁠click here to listen on Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠.

If you’re on social media, you can follow on Twitter here, Instagram here and Facebook here.

Subscribe to or follow the show for free wherever you listen to podcasts.

To leave the show a review:

On Spotify. Open the Spotify app (iOS or Android), ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠find the show⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and tap to rate five-stars. (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Details here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)On Apple. Open your Apple Podcasts app, find the show and tap to rate five-stars. (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Details here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)On Podchaser. Open the Podchaser website, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠find the show⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and tap to rate five-stars. (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Details here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)

Music Credit:

Once Upon a Time by Alex-Productions | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://onsound.eu/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  | Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com