I picked up the new Jim Moore book the other day, Invisible Strings. Beautiful. Many poems read like "journal poems," small observations, unique to the day.

THERE GOES THAT LITTLE MUTT
FROM DOWN THE STREET

and the man, his owner,
          walking together in the cold
December darkness:
          love takes you
where you need to go,
          no exceptions.

Don't let the sorrow of the world bite your soul. 
(Translation by Robert Bly)

If you are the light of the world
And I am the light of the world

The earth must soon be afire
This world will burn with light

I've always said, Poetry doesn't scan well. Like my favorite visual art, poems cannot usually be taken in at a glance. They are richer than that, deeper, and they demand careful attention. Though they may appear to be simple, a glance gives you almost nothing. The work needs to be contemplated.

I came across this quote today, from Molly McQuade's Stealing Glimpses:

"Poetry is slow. Poetry forces you to slow down how you breathe, how you think..." 
          -- Michael Wiegers, managing editor of Copper Canyon Press.


Incidentally, I've never been disappointed in a Copper Canyon book. Founded by Sam Hamill, one of my favorite poets, they have published W.S. Merwin, JIm Harrison, Kenneth Rexroth, Arthur Sze, among others. They have also produced various volumes of translations from the Chinese, including Hamill's own.

TWO CATS

one cat sees
what the other cat knows

one cat reaps
what the other cat sows

Poetry is the sleepy weed
The dumb, the sick, and the dizzy need.

            E.B. White


Poetry is partly the craft of fashioning invisible transitions from thing to thing and thought to thought.

           Molly McQuade

Poetry is the place where language in its silence is most beautifully articulated. Poetry is the language of silence.