Good Poems

Over the summer I picked up a book called Good Poems.  Garrison Keillor of A Prairie Home Companion fame also has a radio program called The Writer's Almanac.  This book is a selection of poems that he featured on that lesser-known show. 

Now I didn't grow up reading poetry.  Actually, I didn't grow up reading much of anything.  But in later life, I've really come to appreciate good writing.  And that includes good poems.  If a novice such as myself can have favorites, then mine are Emily Dickinson and Wendell Berry.  Berry is not only a poet, he's a farmer.  His connection with the earth is refreshing and informs his work.  Take, The Peace of Wild Things, for example. 

   When despair for the world grows in me
   and I wake in the night at the least sound
   in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
   I go and lie down where the wood drake
   rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
   I come into the peace of wild things
   who do not tax their lives with forethought
   of grief.  I come into the presence of still water.
   And I feel above me the day-blind stars
   waiting with their light.  For a time
   I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. 

Beautiful, isn't it.  He could've just said, "Hey, if you have lots of stress in your life, go out in nature for a while."  But that's just good advice, not a good poem.  I love the bio that Keillor includes on this poet-farmer: 

Wendell Berry (1934, Newcastle, KY) is a poet, essayist, novelist, farmer (near Port Royal, KY), environmentalist.  Breathe with unconditioned breath, the unconditioned air.  Shun electric wire.  Communicate slowly.  Live a three-dimensioned life; stay away from screens. 

Do yourself a favor (note: since I'm not aware of anyone else reading my blog, I am mainly talking to myself here) and read some good poems.