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Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Poetry Friday is Here! Welcome!

 


Welcome to the first May #PoetryFriday

And, Happy Cinco de Mayo!

photo from Vecteezy



published in 2019
       I've been reading this book on and off for months. I read a few poems and then move to other poetry books I have. I put stickies on the pages of poems I especially love. Recently, while trying to choose what to do for today, I found one of my favorite poems, "Small Kindnesses" by Danusha Laméris, in the New York Times. Note that this poem was published in the Times in September of 2019, only a few months before March, the US month of lockdown.

You can read the beginning here:

I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk
down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs
to let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you”
when someone sneezes, a leftover
from the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die,” we are saying.
And sometimes, when you spill lemons
from your grocery bag, someone else will help you
pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other.

                                    and the rest here.

        In that year of 2019, it seems that even then, there was need for all of us to be kind. My car was hit recently by a driver who ran a stop sign, in a rather quiet neighborhood. More than one driver slowed and offered help. Though my son-in-law came fairly fast, I was grateful that even strangers tried to give me comfort.

       And then, in April of 2022,  the times posted still another article saying this: "After more than 1,300 teenagers told us about the small kindnesses they appreciate, the poet Danusha Laméris wove their answers into verse."  You can read that collaborative poem here

           Here are a few of the beginning lines:

"Kindness is neighbors saying “Buenos Dias”

It’s the man in the red shirt helping the woman in the floral blouse cross the street. 

It’s the way my heart sings when I’m smiling at a baby, and their mom notices and lifts up the baby’s sweet little hand and waves it at me.

A friend patiently waiting as you quickly tie your loose shoelaces, while everyone continues walking.

A slight buzz in your jean pockets indicating messages from friends appearing out of the blue, questioning how you might be feeling that day, written in text abbreviations, the shared teenage experience.

Getting woken up at my bus stop."


           As you've already seen from my sharing up above, in what seems like such troubled times, even though we have made it through most of the Pandemic, I thought it would be nice for us to create our own "kindness" collaboration. It was a huge pleasure to create the Progressive poem created first by Irene Latham, then now managed by Margaret Simon. Let's do it again, with non-fiction "small kindnesses".
        If you leave something you notice in your special world, I will collect them and share next week.

          We know how much poetry helps us all in all kinds of ways! I hope you enjoy the words that Danusha Laméris has brought to us today. 
                            
HAPPY MAY!


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33 comments:

  1. I'm so glad you are okay, Linda - and I'm also thankful for the kindness of the strangers that rushed to help you.

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    1. Yes, I am, & was, fine. The car is still in the shop, ready soon. All is covered, including a rental car. The other person was at fault. Thanks, Anastasia!

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  2. I love your idea of a kindness collaborative poem, Linda. You made me think of many things that I had not thought of in so many years - the subway riders in DC pushing us forward on a rush hour train to help us get off at our stop (2012) or the student who pressed a penny he saved into my palm telling me that It will help me to "save the world" after a year of hearing my environmental lessons in garden club - never once did I tell the children to "save the world," or just the person who holds the door open for me at the store. All small but important occurrences in my world that gave/give me hope. I cannot wait to see what you receive from others. Thank you! (I am also very glad and thankful that you are okay.)

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  3. Hi Linda, thanks for this caring post and for hosting the Roundup this week! I really like Danusha Laméris' poem and appreciate your sharing it. In case anyone can't access the Times article, here's another link I found her poem on: https://www.reddit.com/r/Poetry/comments/x1rltf/poem_small_kindnesses_by_danusha_lam%C3%A9ris/ And for your call for acts of kindness– Suggesting an exercise for a person with a painful foot cramp.

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  4. Such an ironic poem, considering what lay around the corner - a pandemic which brought out some of the most un-kind behavior we'd seen. But I like to think that kindness eventually wins, and your post is wonderfully positive, Linda. thanks for hosting!

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  5. I love this idea of the progressive poem. I hope you are okay after the car accident. Even if all is well, the aftermath of paperwork and repairs can be such a pain.

    My entry: When a friend buys you dinner and asks -- genuinely -- how the writing is going.

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  6. What a great opportunity to think about the kindnesses we see around us, which makes me wonder what I do to show kindness. Each summer I love when my neighbor stops by and surprises me with fresh lettuce and squash from his garden.

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  7. Lameris' poem was the inspiration for my OLW this year, so I'm so glad you quoted it here, Linda. Just yesterday I was struck by the smile from a stranger who held the door for me while I crossed the street. That small act stayed with me all afternoon.

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  8. Linda, thank you for hosting. Whenever I think of you, I think of your kindness. These poems are a balm...the balm I need. What a treat to be able to see them here. Enjoy the weekend of poetry.

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  9. What a wonderfully kind idea! I want to do this with my students or with the whole hallway!
    Kindness is a clerk at Lowe's loading bags of soil into the trunk of her own car to deliver to your school for the butterfly garden.
    Kindness is the girl handing you a colorful picture of flowers, a multi-folded notebook page with a poem about kindness, and you don't even teach her. She just notices you in the carpool line and wants to make you smile again. (I have a photo of this.)

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  10. I have liked "Kindness" for a long time, but I hadn't seen the 2022 collaborative version. It brought a tear to my eye! What a great idea. My entry: when my next-door neighbor comes by with treats to celebrate her holidays. (I love being included in celebrating, even though I am unfamiliar with her holidays.)
    Thanks for hosting!

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  11. Linda, I love this whole post! (Except the wreck, of course, but I'm glad you had some positive around yours. As you know, we had a very different experience...) Your links took me down fantastic rabbit holes as I prepare to write poetry with K-5 after-school daycare kiddos! Lots of them are frightened of or opposed to the idea of poetry and I have to help them find a way in. The article "What is Poetry?" will help!

    My submission for a collaborative kindness poem: Kindness is the generosity of fellow writers who help you lift your work to the next level.

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  12. Thank you to all who've shared your own experiences & enjoyed the poems. I am in the west, thus just up and ready for lots of joy today reading your posts. Have a super day!

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  13. Thank you for hosting today's Poetry Friday event.

    I love this poem - and this idea! "Small Kindnesses" also leads the anthology: "The Path to Kindness: Poems of Connection and Joy." It's a lovely collection, if you haven't seen it (Also edited by James Crews). I'm going to have to check out "Healing the Divide."

    As for a line...
    Kindness is the friend who sends a poem, a podcast, an article,
    simply saying, "You'll love this," or "This made me think of you."

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  14. Linda, thank goodness you're okay! And I'm thankful for all the kindness that surrounded you in the aftermath of that accident. So scary. This is a lovely post, with an evergreen reminder for all of us. I really enjoy James Crews' editing and curation work (and his own poetry, too.) What a lovely way to begin Poetry Friday! Thanks for hosting.

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  15. This is from Jan Godown Annino, who somehow cannot make the comment go through! "Although I'm not a dog person, I smile when I see the clean & refreshed bowls of water left under the spigot at a local greenway popular with canines & their caretakers, as recently as this Monday. It's great when owners bring their own bowls, but even more wonderful that someone (multiple ones?) are caring for the panting canine community at large."

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  16. Thank you for this uplifting, life-affirming post. So sorry about the accident, but happy you are okay and offered help by others at the time. Out of this unfortunate incident, you've chosen to focus on the positive by sharing Lameris's initial poem, and then the collaborative one, a much needed reminder of the power of small gestures towards our fellow human beings. I've always felt that you yourself are a model of kindness; thanks for being a light through all these years, and thanks for hosting this week!

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  17. Today is kindness day at our end of school countdown. I have share both poems with our 3rd through 5th grade teachers

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  18. Linda, what a lovely thought! Thank you! The kindness on my brain at the moment is: When I ask someone to pull up their mask to keep me safe, and they're confused but do it anyway-- because they don't want me to be afraid, because they respect my right to live, because it costs them nothing but means everything to me

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  19. Linda, what a precious idea. Thank you for your sweet kindness post here. I love the poem by Danusha Laméris, and the collaborative teen poem is wonderful. Thank you for hosting today.

    I've been thinking about how complete I feel when I walk by the little free library in the touristy part of town and see that someone has filled it up with lovely volumes.

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  20. I'm so grateful for this post, Linda (and glad you're okay!). Just one small kindness from today: When I mentioned our car problems, our daughter whose life is chaotically busy asked if we needed rides anywhere today. Also, when another person at the gym and I both go toward the same machine, and then we both gesture to each other to go first. :>)

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  21. Thanks again for these recent comments! It makes me smile real big to read them!

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  22. Linda, kindness is you sharing these collaborative poems of kindness. It is kind of you to ask us to write a kindness that happened to us. Kindness is Michelle leaving a link so others could read the rest of the first poem you posted in case we couldn't use your link. Our oldest daughter is on a well-deserved beach vacation with her boyfriend and two other friends. Kindness is my daughter taking time to take video and photos of the ocean waves crashing and sharing them with me because she knows how much I love to see and hear ocean waves. Kindness is my cat purring while patiently waiting for me.

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  23. I remember loving this poem when I came across it somewhere. Thanks for hosting us today. I've been seeing kindness in people who are striving against global oppression on the daily and still managing witty repartee in the moment. I like it when kindness is funny and serious at the same time!

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  24. Here’s a link to a slice of life story about a small act of kindness I remember even years later: https://wp.me/p2fY1t-d4

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  25. Kindness is a stranger's help lifting your sick dog into the car. I was driving to CA two days ago with a dog I thought had a bladder infection. But her pain was increasing with every mile. Something was wrong. When I stopped to let her out for a break, I couldn't get her back in the car. A young guy on a skateboard saw me crying, cajoling her. He helped me lift her, even as he told me he was afraid of dogs. --Thank you for hosting, Linda.

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  26. Thank you Gail, Heidi, Diane, & Patricia. What warm & loving stories you have shared! The link, Diane, is one I'll now remember, too.

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  27. Thank you for hosting this week, Linda! I remember when I first read this poem and how moved I was by this line: "what if they are the true dwelling of the holy..." Thinking about this really does change the way you encounter the world. I consider myself truly blessed because I have so many kindnesses to choose from! One recent example is a friend at work bringing me a bottle of vitamin C tablets when I had a bad cold. They really helped! (Apologies if I'm posting this twice! My comments seem to disappear!)

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    1. It is those small things that make our lives good, Catherine. No worries about the comment. I turn on moderation after 3 days. Have a lovely Sunday!

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  28. So glad you're okay, Linda. Thank you for these kindnesses. I've been under the weather, and the other day my sweet hubby went to 3 different pharmacies to get the meds I needed...and son brought food...it meant so much. xo

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    1. Thanks, Irene, yes, I'm glad I'm okay, too. Sorry about your feeling ill and hope all is better day by day! Have a good week coming up!

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  29. I'm running late and visiting Poetry Friday on Monday. Thank you for hosting and for a poem about kindness - something we need so much. And I'm glad you experienced kindness when you needed it!

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    1. Thanks so much, Ruth. Hope you have had a great start to your week!

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