In honor of National Poetry Month, I chose this collection of poems by our US Poet Laureate Ada Limón.
This was a serious stretch for me. I love performance poetry; I've been captivated by slam poetry, I fell in love with a Chicago poet listening to him read on the radio, and I consider well written rap that I love poetry. This was my first time reading a collection of them, and at first, I was only slightly impressed. I has halfway bored and confused with a lot of them, and full confession, didn't even finish the collection in time to discuss them.
What's delightful about book club, is that when I feel "meh" about something, other's appreciation of it, and understanding why, can change my opinion and I can find an appreciation in there for myself.
We discussed how Limón's poems were about her move from New York to Kentucky. The change of pace of things, hating things, loving things, adjusting to the differences.
I can sometimes be a very literal person, so when I didn't get what was happening, or a story in the poem shifted and didn't make sense, or there didn't seem to be a neat ending, I got frustrated. Someone said, to them, poetry can be like a picture, its just a slice of time, a bit of a moment. That helped. And the idea that these are just her personal moments, that I don't need to "get them" all. Maybe they don't apply to me in my life now, maybe later, maybe never, and that's okay. This was a fantastic reminder for all the "acceptance" learning I've been doing on my personal journey, and now I'm excited to take my time, revisit this collection (actually finish it) and take the poems just a bit at a time and enjoy what clicks, and let go what doesn't.
What did you think about this collection? What do you think about poetry?
