in response to kindness

so glad that Jess posted this well-made poem for us to read. i've been thinking on it these long months since it first arrived. i was talking to Nicki about the group that doesn't discuss things so much...she said that Troy had told her he had written things in response, but hadn't posted them. and i realized that i had talked to AP about all kinds of things that found their beginnings here, but hadn't posted. it seemed like it was thinking and talking about these things!

so a few thoughts:

• why kindness? could the poem work with another word? say love or grace or truth.
• are kindness and sorrow really the twin deepest things?
• Nye's poem brought to mind a few other poems. one by William Stafford, one of Nye's teachers. here it is.

Why I Am Happy

Now has come, an easy time. I let it
roll. There is a lake somewhere
so blue and far nobody owns it.
A wind comes by and a willow listens
gracefully.

I hear all this, every summer. I laugh
and cry for every turn of the world,
it's terribly cold, innocent spin.
That lake stays blue and free; it goes
on and on.

And I know where it is.

i first heard this poem at the end of a writing workshop. our teacher sent us out into the world as writers, ones who know where that deep blue lake is. ones who have entered that easy time.

and this by Wendell Berry. boy, i quote him a lot. i even received a hand made pillow with Wendell's picture on it as a baby shower gift.

What We Need Is Here

Geese appear high over us,
pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,
as in love or sleep, holds
them to their way, clear
in the ancient faith: what we need
is here. And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye,
clear. What we need is here.

to me both these poems speak of an ease and openness that i don't find in the Nye poem. it's almost as if there's a kindness club. and unless you've experienced sorrow, you can't know kindness.

but that hasn't been my experience...

my legs started cramping something terrible as i was working to get Nicolas out. i really needed to bear down and push, but the added pain of leg cramps was making it difficult. even after he was born, the pain continued. and then Nicki came and asked if i wanted her to rub my legs. she had sweet smelling lotion that she had thought to bring from home. and she rubbed my feet and legs. this was after she had cuddled Mabel on the couch and read to her. after she had taken Mabel outside to see the stars on the night her brother was born. and it was 3 in the morning.

kindness.