The Power of Poetry, with Helena Bonham Carter and Jason Isaacs
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The Power of Poetry, with William Sieghart, Jeanette Winterson and Helena Bonham Carter
For 15 years, the power of the spoken word has been at the heart of Intelligence Squared’s mission. Argument and debate, we believe, can move, persuade and create real change. Now, in these anxious and divided times, we held a special event that celebrated the positive, transformative force of another kind of spoken word - poetry.
William Sieghart told the extraordinary story of his bestselling book, The Poetry Pharmacy: Tried-and-True Prescriptions for the Heart, Mind and Soul. This is no conventional collection but one created from Sieghart’s own, personal experience of prescribing real poems to real people in need. Every poem is matched to a specific condition: fear of the unknown, unrequited love, stagnation, purposelessness, convalescence, oppression
Joining him in conversation were novelist and poetry devotee Jeanette Winterson. Together they explored poetry’s uncanny ability to calm, console and, above all, connect us to the minds and feelings of others. Finding the right poem at the right moment is not just a problem shared, Sieghart says, but a problem transformed. It is ‘to discover a powerful sense of complicity, and that precious realisation: I’m not the only one who feels like this.’ It is to forge a connection with ‘this stranger who understands - and what results is a sort of peace.’
Bringing the poems to dramatic life were a cast of star actors including Helena Bonham Carter, Sue Perkins, Jason Isaacs and Tom Burke.
Did you enjoy this talk on the power of poetry? Then check out our video about letters that changed the world - th-cam.com/video/luMEjKFt5Qk/w-d-xo.html
Letters include those from Michelangelo, Catherine the Great, Sarah Bernhardt, Rosa Parks, Virginia Woolf, Alan Turing and Leonard Cohen. Some are inspiring, some unsettling, others express foreboding and despair. Many celebrate love and sex.
A cast of performers, including Young Vic director Kwame Kwei-Armah, rising star Jade Anouka, Dunkirk actor Jack Lowden, and West End star Tamsin Greig, brought the letters to life on stage.
Beautiful. "Short" significant poems....the most awe filled joy filled show. 'A few colorful/less "leaves' of grass'': great for those who experience the resonance of grace when they pick up a pen....where letters are enlivened in the "cave of the heart".
Disyphering the mirrors that unveil the soul coming towards the present. To see the morning sun and feel the warmth of an entire nation.
Words
Trusts
Rippling water
Art
Part.
Of course, being a poet myself!
@@sirtomcrane4102 a
Me
The poems:
10:19 - The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry
12:39 - Celia Celia by Adrian Mitchell
14:53 - Your Task by Rumi
17:39 - It Happens All The Time in Heaven by Hafiz
26:00 - Atlas by U. A. Fanthorpe
28:03 - Voice by Ann Sansom
31:05 - The Price by Stewart Henson
34:47 - Two Cures For Love by Wendy Cope
41:27 - The Mistake by James Fenton
45:13 - Failing and Flying by Jack Gilbert
48:05 - Love After Love by Derek Walcott
54:06 - All That is Gold Does Not Glitter by J. R. R. Tolkien
1:01:39 - Golden Retrievals by Mark Doty
1:04:26 - Bedecked by Victoria Redel
Thank you 🌺
thank you very very much
THANK U SO MUCH!
Thank you
Perfect! Thank you so much!
Helena Bonham Carter almost sings when she recites the poem. It's speech that is on the verge of singing
I love what Jeanette Winterson says about things outside of you will get destroyed easily, but the things inside stays.
Yes. I once heard that a possession is something you have that cannot be taken away... that's not much, is it? Our love, our hate? Our joy, our pain? Our knowledge, our memories. . . it's all inside.
So true!
Do follow me for some poetry :)! @agratagupta
Reminds me of the song Marceline sings in Adventure time called “Everything Stays” and it’s one of my absolute favorite songs!
I wonder
"Phenomenal woman,that's me"
Omg,these words suit Helena so much!
I love when she reads btw
What poem was that?
“The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - that you’d thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you’ve never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it’s as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.”
Alan Bennett, The History Boys
well said
I came for Helena , but ended up finding deep appreciation for everyone on the panel ..
The first one Helena read. Imagine Ballatrix talking about the Dark Lord. So much fun😻
Miss Merry Berry, same:)
same
Absolutely. They’re all brilliant
#MeToo
Jason Isaacs is so underrated.
I'm here for Helena Bonham Carter
Same here hehehe
Same
Same here 😂😍
Same! ^_^
Same :'>
Bellatrix and Lucius sitting and smiling..... WHY AREN'T PEOPLE RUNNING??
😂😂😂
I'm asking the same! =D
I'd call the Order, at least.
Maybe they're slytherins and pure bloods
@@vitomcsween974 even those should be fear, i think 😂
Because they are Bellatrix and Lucius 😍😍😍😍😍
TH-cam recommended this to me two days ago and it had 50k views, now it’s at 66k and I’m so happy they’ve finally got their priorities right
I am glad for this recommendation too😊
90k now
202k now❤
Recommended to me today, Feb 21, 2021.
I just love how Helena always transpires a mysterious aura around her. It's so fascinating. I'm really glad I clicked this video. Also 7 am here.
I’m only 30 minutes into this video and this is probably, possibly one of my favourite videos on TH-cam so far. Beautiful
Agreed. And the first one that had me taking notes and rewinding every few minutes just to enjoy the brilliance of their performances (William and Jeanette just as much as the others!) all over again. And again.
so true...watched it multiple times now...seems to have been a wonderful event...the athmosphere is just so light and loving somehow...I sometimes just listen to it while ironing or so ;-)...also good language training...still words I have to learn...and it makes me want to understand every single world :-)
I agree! Just wish I'd been there in person.
I wish Alan Rickman could have been apart of this line up reciting poetry 💔😭
A magic poem
th-cam.com/video/hLz7reIZZXQ/w-d-xo.html
😭😭
oh how I wish to see him act out my fave characters again.
Oh, I miss that man so much! 🥺💔🥺
That was phenomenal.... I never dared going near poems. Now I might venture into a new adventure
Do it, you won't regret it♡
I don’t know why every time I try to do something artistic I just get stuck. With poems too I just can’t find the words to express what I want
@@nfv9039 just read a lot, the more you read the more you become comfortable with words and using and manipulating language to mean what you want it to mean.
“I had no language of my own and it’s the first time language has ever left me and it was very frightening” Jeanette Winterson, incredibly powerful understated words.
This is a wonderful video, a gem in every phrase spoken or recited. Thank you.
You know, I first discovered this in 2018, and all these years I have been revisiting it every couple of months. What I'm trying to says is, this is the greatest video on TH-cam.
The moment u see Bellatrix and Lucius sitting next to each other
Tom Burke (who sits centre-stage in this video) is also the godson of Alan Rickman (Snape), Great Britain is a small island....
@@GemmaJohnshat and every single person on it seems to have been in Harry Potter
A poem is a secret the heart cannot keep ❤️ -robin wiencek
then it's not a secret
Can you keep a secret
Can you keep it well,
Can you keep a secret
And never, never tell?
If I were a tree
All my life, &
my colour
would hide
beneath, the
leaves
that
fall.
" Take a rake & scrape them in a neat pile, my dear "
Beautiful.
❤️
Completely amazed at the power of this talk and the poems. I came for Helena and ended up staying the whole way through, impacted powerfully. Thank you.
Helena Bonham Carter made me speechless while reading reading that Phenomenal Woman..wow!!
The Poet is the legislature of the heart and soul. Invisible commanders of their own world, their own unique perspective, The ubiquitous point of view, which in any given moment is always and in in everything unique. My favorite poets are Walt Whitman and Rumi. The so called secular world and the sacred world are both aspects of the One Reality. The separation between the two are conceptual only. They say the poet sees the world through rose tinted spectacles. Not true! The poet see it as it is, the good and bad and the ugly. The poet sees that to which everybody else around is oblivious to, until they are reminded. I could say more, but ponder on it. Explanations can sometimes be traps. No matter what I know, how much I know, how much I understand, I can tell you nothing that you don't already know. Poetry truly is the elixir for the soul.
@K C I'm glad your kind is relegated to the internet and is no longer welcomed in the public square. I'm sorry you've chosen to live your precious life this way.
Let Helena Bonham Carter just talk about anything and I am happy with it.
Really enjoyed this! Thank you all involved! Mr. Isaacs, you're a fantastic reader. I loved you as Malfoy, AND as Lorca, loved you as the inquisitor, loved you as Commander Zhao, loved you as Captain Hook and in so many other roles, and I was so excited to see your involvement with my first love, poetry.
Helena and Jason and Poetry? It seems like my kind of party :o
Thank you so much for this ear - and mind massage. I found this video because I searched videos with helena bonham carter and I endet up with buing the book. And like the book, I can watch and mostly listen this video several times. It is a beatiful conversation. And it was the first time I learned that when a poem is read and I hear every savoring of each word the poem comes so much more to life than silence reading. So next time i read a poem, I have to read it loud.
Thank you!
Got goosebumps when Helena read out Maya Angelou's "Phenomenal Woman"
Me too! Every woman needs to recite that to herself every morning into the mirror.
As a gay man in his 70s, C.P. Cavafy (brought to me by an actress of a play of whom I was SM in the '60s) has become my go-to poet in times of distress and joy. Please give him a try. Garcia Lorca's poetry can also absorb and elucidate the blazing fire and gentle meadow streams that are part of any sentient being's life.
8 and a half minutes in, and I am still sitting here stunned by Jeanette Winterson's description of encountering T.S Elliott. ......The discussion had rolled on, without any acknowledgement of what she said. It is almost as if there was nothing to add. So powerful a description of the power of poetry!
It is so good to hear English with British accent! Thanks for posting this. I enjoyed all the poems read here and learned the importance of poems in our lives.
Wow, I cried during "It happens all the time in heaven". I needed that.
What. A. Treat. Didn’t know I needed this.
I need bedtime stories narrated by HBC
Yessss
Poetry is really powerful, it brings out the angel and monster of the reader but also hits the very bottom of emotions. How I wish I had this experience in the classroom when I was a student, I would have appreciated it more in my early years.
This is the best thing that’s showed up on my algorithm in a long time. Loved this! 🧡
I actually sought after it
I loved seeing Jason Issacs rapt attention as the final poem was read. Complete presence, totally in the moment. Bliss. That alone, could tempt a non-believer to try poetry at least once. Wonderful recording. Thanks to all involved. God be with the days.
Why do pathological angry bitter personalities bother to roam TH-cam simply to regurgitate their bile over us who simply want to be entertained,educated,and yes amused Poetry has been an inspiration a consolation and by the genius of the creative artist helped to develop my sensibilities and fully relish the English language.Great actors and authors reading great poems for an hour and half! How bads that sados.
I find difficult to express how much I love the Internet
It happens all the time in heaven had me choking and sobbing for a few moments. I bursted to tears.
Utterly, utterly wonderful. The power of poetry, the power of voice - sit back and enjoy this astonishingly good session :)
Jason Isaacs ♥♥♥ HBC and Poetry = Perfection.
I came for Helena, and had never really understood the power of poetry until I heard this. Thank you!
I found this youtube account thanks to algorithm gods and I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GREATFUL. The poem "failing and flying " brought me to tears. Thank you for this and if you can please listen to their episode about SPEECHES that changed history. Another gem!!!!!!!!
I don't know if it varies by the viewer, but TH-cam had advertisements going every few seconds. It was so bad that I had to turn off a fascinating video.
Yup, 14 ads is way too much.
Guys, install an ad blocker.
Click to the very end of the video, then press restart or go back to the start. The ads should be gone!
@@solluvver Okay, I'll try it. Thanks.
@@solluvver
Wow thanks for the great tip!! My cyber hug to you!!!
48th-ish minute. Me coming from a Tom Hiddleston video cause I saw Helena Bonham Carter in the thumbnail. I click into the middle of the video. She speaks a sentence and it hits me, that this iis the exact same poem that truck me, when Tom Hiddleston read it in another video a day or two ago. The Very Same Poem is haunting me. And it's reminding me AGAIN what I keep getting reminded of frequently in card readings. To feast on life and bring joy back in.
Here I am, trying, while at the bottom of things.
Moreso than ever. When even getting this far has cost me tremendous effort.
I really need a series of this.
Just 3 more of the same people.
Yes man wheres the petition
Three quarters of a century swimming and
smashing against the swells and oe'r capping of monstrous cold waves, and finally a digital island---well done all--build a lighthouse now, please and for pity's sake--there are more swimmers out in the darkening
waves of this plunging century.
Opened my eyes, ears , mind and soul. James Fenton poem ... sadly brings the deepest realisation. Yet so many enlightenments still unfolding .
i should note that the poem "It happens all the time" is not originally from Hafiz, its actually a poem by Daniel Ladinsky who's written several books in the name of the great poet Hafiz but doesn't even know persian and his poems bear little or no resemblance to what Hafez has composed.
True, and also Western poets tend to eliminate many references. Persian literature is one of the greatest contributions to humanity.
I really like Tom's recitations. His voice is mesmerising.
I’m only one minute into the intros. I already feel better for having come here.
Omg Jason... You took my heart flying above the cloud with your mesmerizing voice~ Thank you for bringing joy to my life!
This is a bloody brilliant program. 👍
Poetry always seemed so distant and alien to my life. This video has changed my feelings about poetry. Thank you for opening my heart to poetry as a Rx and a touchstone to the past, present and how i can chose how I feel about my future.
Great Video.
Helena Bonham Carter is like Amy Nuttall, Johnny Depp, Alan Rickman, Daniel Craig, Emma Watson, Ralph Fiennes, Karen Gillan, Bonnie Wright, Christopher Lee, Ben Kingsley, Geoffrey Rush, Jeremy Irons one of my favorite actors and artists.
My namesake William here and his pharmacy poetry reminded me of the Sonnet Shrink created for Shakespeare Birthplace Trust open day two years ago. Someone would sit and i'd chat with them about themselves whereupon i'd choose an appropriate sonnet for them. Thank you for reminding me there's nothing new under the sun.
This is stunning, I loved all the lecture! We need more of these please
The best recommendation by TH-cam ♥️
Thank you for whomever algorithm brought this to my feed, truly uplifting and amazing poetry, thank you,
Helena could read to me, always.
I read this in a lovely book that I am reading. I’ll be a poet, and you’ll be a poetry.-Francois Coppee. I love poetry. Good medicine indeed. Thank you
I clicked this because of Jason Issacs and Helena Bonham Carter but was so happy to see Sue from “Supersizers Go...”! It’s great how all British people know each other :)
She looks like she's come straight from Harry Potter
Congratulations. Now, you may think out why they invited her, and put it on the title
Rude
Yes, indeed. I anwsered the wrong comment. I have nothing agaisnt her or her style
But, do think why would they ask her to participate, and put her in the title. If one can not see the intents of merchandise... Well, I prefer to sound rude
Well yeah, you are right
Lovely interpretation of "what is a poem?" by all guest speakers but was especially moved by Ms. Winterson.
Took a moment to pause, rewind and listen again because of how it impacted me. I could have never succinctly and beautifully stated it as she had, but I suppose that is the beauty of it - we all have our own interpretation of a thing.
Her interpretation of a poem:
"Language at its most concentrated; its the place where the thing is distilled into the tightest possible place so that you can trust it not to break under you when you put your own weight on to it." - Jeanette Winterson
I saw Helena and Jason and my heart melted 💕
"Alone" by Edgar Allan Poe was the one that did it for me. The first half, not the rest. It was on a napkin at a restaurant I was at when I was about 16-17, and I stopped paying attention to the people around me and kept re-reading it, it was like finally I felt understood.
I mean when relationships end they are a failure if we were aiming for a lifetime. That's just how it it. Things can get really ugly. When betrayal, lies and indifference happens it becomes a failure. Because we sometimes leave more scared than anything
God bless you for giving me a key to the “Pharmacy of Poetry”, William!
« Let the words do something to you; don’t do something to the words. »
As a teacher, I love to help children find the power and emotions in words. It’s also important to help students learn to respect the feelings of others, through sharing and celebrating their words. We talk about how it takes courage to share our personal work. We don’t count syllables or worry about rhyme (thought they can use rhyme, if they wish), but focus on the snapshot of time that the words give to us.
For me and my students, success is not about rhyme (as one of the panelist’s said, this can easily kill poetry if the focus is overdone), but is rather about expressing something that is personal, powerful and unique for that moment.
Helena bonham carter.
Poetry, above everything else, has kept me sane through the Covid pandemic. As an adult I have discovered so many amazing poets - Felix Dennis and Maya Angelou are just two that instantly spring to mind - and is my 'go to' in times of sadness as well as great joy. Thank you.
my gay heart is screaming i love hbc huhu
you and me both
i love her too, she's so pretty (and she's literally the woman who made me realize that i'm bi)
Wow she's so amazing she turns women gay! Can't say I blame you lol
I was confused and chuckling a bit when you said "gay heart" but then I realized that gay is also a synonym for happiness.....
Although I found it two years after the event took place by a happy coincidence, I have to say that I have rarely enjoyed an event recording like I did this one. And the inclusion of Jeanette Winterson was the cherry on top; what a great assemble and lovely event. Thank you.
It began
With a whisper in my ear:
"I think it's time."
Suddenly all we held dear was on the line.
As your heart measured in mountains fell and climbed.
You're okay, you're okay, you're okay, you're okay.
Amen.
We were changed in an instant.
We became so much more.
Our definition of perfect was written when she was born.
She drew her first breath out of what love meant.
In my heart, reconciled all the darkness and light inside my chest.
As her hands held tight.
And her eyes met mine, I saw the future unfold in sliver and gold.
And I'm already proud.
Beautiful like your mother,
You are grace, you are light.
The better version of our past.
From the start of life.
We will learn from each other.
As you grow up, we will too.
And our reflections of one another.
We will start something new.
We were changed in an instant.
We became so much more.
Our definition of perfect was written when you were born.
There is so much to tell you.
There is so much to see.
We will show you the oceans, and everything in between.
What a privilege to love you,
To teach you all that we know.
To watch you build a collection of dreams that you can call your own.
By Ryan O'Neal
He is a musician,he publishes his music under the name of "sleeping at last"
Since this comment section is full of people who love and cherish poetry,I thought that his band is perfect for people who like peotry and music
I would be really happy to hear what you guys think.
I love the first paragraph. Feels relevent right now. I related it to now anyway...
She lit a burner on the stove
And offered me a pipe
I thought you'd never say hello, she said
You look like the silent type
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century
And everyone of them words rang true
And glowed like burnin' coal
Pourin' off of every page
Like it was written in my soul
From me to you
Tangled up in blue-BOB DYLAN. I collect lyrics and poems in my mind, to me it's a about those little lines of truth that help sort our head or make us smile, their meaning can change when you change.
this is the best meal for the soul
I love that they read Tolkien's poem, I've gone to so many of his poems myself when I needed some hope
1.12.45 - 1.15.00 what a phenomenal woman indeed!😍
Laima indeed!!! ^_^ ❤❤❤
HBC read that poem like a true spell caster 😻
She is still gothic since fight club
This has been an absolute wonder to watch and a joy for me. Genuinely great readings and excellent insight and advice; I've been whisked away by poetry once again. Thank you.
I love the one about how a dog lives in presence 🐶
41:28 and 1:12:17
Thank you. I clicked without hesitation because I know this could only be for the one and only HBC
Thank you!
I cannot love this enough. Beautiful poetry and why poetry connects us on a universal level. All the reasons I love to write and read poetry.
Love it.. these poems are like good butter to my soul. 😊
I hope this is done again. I love this
I love helena's voice
I thought I would listen to Helena for 1 hour. but just listened for 2 minutes
I'm an HBC fan
"We are all sick" love this. Just human ❤😊
This video had an emotional effect on me. Lovely, and thank you all for sharing.
Im so grateful for the suggestion to watch this.
It's full of rich, deep and comforting poetry read and discussed brilliantly by very interesting people. Thank you
Helena bonhamn carter i going to winn all of it
I found it easier to write a short poetry, than a long novel that encompassed a multitude of words within those short verses about a life's journey.
Bought this book for my Dad for Christmas and got myself a copy, my Mam bought it for me, so regifted to my Sister. Great panel really enjoyed listening. Also delighted there is a 2nd volume of the poetry pharmacy, that's next few presents sorted
A lovely talk
I'm Brazilian so I don't get the deeper ideas about it unless someone explain the details behind any poem and its proposal
I am neither gay, nor Muslim but hearing the story behind It Happens All The Time in Heaven, then hearing the words for myself was a beautiful, cathartic experience.
i come back to this video every now and again and i enjoy it even more every time
Thank you heartedly recommending this . Opened my resolve to do better faster.
Wonderful to connect with all the panelists - Jeannette Winterson - even her reactions to others .. opens a window.
POEMS READ IN THE PROGRAM 2/2
The Mistake by James Fenton
With the mistake your life goes in reverse.
Now you can see exactly what you did
Wrong yesterday and wrong the day before
And each mistake leads back to something worse
And every nuance of your hypocrisy
Towards yourself and every excuse
Stands solidly on the perspective lines
And there is perfect visibility.
What an enlightenment. The colonnade
Rolls past on either side. You needn’t move.
The statues of your errors brush your sleeve.
You watch the tale turn back - and you’re dismayed.
And this dismay at this, this big mistake
Is made worse by the sight of all those who
Knew all along where these mistakes would lead -
Those frozen friends who watched the crisis break.
Why didn’t they say? Oh but they did indeed -
Said with a murmur when the time was wrong
Or by a mild refusal to assent
Or told you plainly but you would not heed.
Yes, you can hear them now. It hurts. It’s worse
Than any sneer from an enemy.
Take this dismay. Lay claim to this mistake.
Look straight along the lines of this reverse.
Failing and Flying by Jack Gilbert
Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.
It's the same when love comes to an end,
or the marriage fails and people say
they knew it was a mistake, that everybody
said it would never work. That she was
old enough to know better. But anything
worth doing is worth doing badly.
Like being there by that summer ocean
on the other side of the island while
love was fading out of her, the stars
burning so extravagantly those nights that
anyone could tell you they would never last.
Every morning she was asleep in my bed
like a visitation, the gentleness in her
like antelope standing in the dawn mist.
Each afternoon I watched her coming back
through the hot stony field after swimming,
the sea light behind her and the huge sky
on the other side of that. Listened to her
while we ate lunch. How can they say
the marriage failed? Like the people who
came back from Provence (when it was Provence)
and said it was pretty but the food was greasy.
I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell,
but just coming to the end of his triumph.
Love After Love by Derek Walcott
The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.
All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter by J.R.R. Tolkien
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.
Golden Retrievals by Mark Doty
Fetch? Balls and sticks capture my attention
seconds at a time. Catch? I don’t think so.
Bunny, tumbling leaf, a squirrel who’s-oh
joy-actually scared. Sniff the wind, then
I’m off again: muck, pond, ditch, residue
of any thrillingly dead thing. And you?
Either you’re sunk in the past, half our walk,
thinking of what you never can bring back,
or else you’re off in some fog concerning
-tomorrow, is that what you call it? My work:
to unsnare time’s warp (and woof!), retrieving,
my haze-headed friend, you. This shining bark,
a Zen master’s bronzy gong, calls you here,
entirely, now: bow-wow, bow-wow, bow-wow.
Bedecked by Victoria Redel
Tell me it’s wrong the scarlet nails my son sports or the toy
store rings he clusters four jewels to each finger.
He’s bedecked. I see the other mothers looking at the star
choker, the rhinestone strand he fastens over a sock.
Sometimes I help him find sparkle clip-ons when he says
sticker earrings look too fake.
Tell me I should teach him it’s wrong to love the glitter that a
boy’s only a boy who’d love a truck with a remote that revs,
battery slamming into corners or Hot Wheels loop-de-looping
off tracks into the tub.
Then tell me it’s fine - really - maybe even a good thing - a boy
who’s got some girl to him,
and I’m right for the days he wears a pink shirt on the seesaw in
the park.
Tell me what you need to tell me but keep far away from my son
who still loves a beautiful thing not for what it means -
this way or that - but for the way facets set off prisms and
prisms spin up everywhere
and from his own jeweled body he’s cast rainbows - made every
shining true color.
Now try to tell me - man or woman - your heart was ever once
that brave.
Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them,
They say they still can’t see.
I say,
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing,
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need for my care.
’Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
No Man Is An Island by John Donne
No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Olde English Version:
No man is an Iland, intire of itselfe; every man
is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine;
if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe
is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as
well as if a Manor of thy friends or of thine
owne were; any mans death diminishes me,
because I am involved in Mankinde;
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.
Shuayb Ganatra Thank you! ❤️
Thanks
A poem, I can take it or leave it, but I can't do without poetry