Friday, February 01, 2008

Poetry Friday -- Keeping My Eye On The Big Picture

It's been a long week, what with parent conferences on Tuesday night. I'm feeling a bit like Sisyphus, and not always as sure as the poet that there is a benevolent Big Plan.** Still, I do celebrate, like Countee Cullen, our quirky human experience on this amazing planet.

Yet Do I Marvel
By Countee Cullen

I doubt not God is good, well-meaning, kind,
And did He stoop to quibble could tell why
The little buried mole continues blind,
Why flesh that mirrors Him must some day die,
Make plain the reason tortured Tantalus
Is baited by the fickle fruit, declare
If merely brute caprice dooms Sisyphus
To struggle up a never-ending stair.


(The rest of the poem is here. Round up is at Karen Edmisten.)


**Almost at the exact moment I hit the "publish post" button, the phone rang. Two hour delay because of the icy rain last night. That's as close to a lightning bolt as I want to get, so I now stand IN TOTAL AGREEMENT with Countee Cullen!!!!

9 comments:

  1. Don't you just love those calls? I'd love to get one. I did get up this morning to find a bunch of school closings, but they're all west in the mountains. They have ice, we have rain.

    Enjoy the short day and the weekend that follows!

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  2. Heh. I'll remember to stand well clear of you if you make that kind of doubtful statement again.

    Bliss. Enjoy your reprieve.

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  3. Your footnote made me laugh out loud.

    My husband (a high school English teacher) had a late start, which then turned into a snow day, earlier this week. I love those days.

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  4. Mary Lee,

    I like your selection for Poetry Friday. Being a retired teacher is pretty nice--every day's a snow day for me!

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  5. Mary Lee, two-hour delay. Wahoo!

    Thanks for that poem. I'd never seen it. Wow.

    Jules, 7-Imp

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  6. Love this poem (hadn't seen it before)! I'm sure you got your reprieve because it. Thanks and enjoy your day.

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  7. Anonymous11:34 AM

    I swear I might put that poem by the stove. Or washing machine. Or over my desk...

    Here's hoping your 2 hour delay was just right...

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  8. Anonymous1:02 PM

    The footnote was awesome.

    Loved that poem. Thanks for posting it. And it's a nice tribute to Langston Hughes, whose birthday it is today (or would have been, rather): "to make a poet black, and bid him sing!"

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  9. I really like this poem. Thanks for sharing this one! Hopefully the weather is better now.

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