______________<\/p>\n
My new book of poems, Reduced to Joy, is just being published. The book contains seventy-three poems, retrieved and shaped over the last thirteen years, about the nature of working with what we\u2019re given till it wears us through to joy. For the next few months, I\u2019d like to share poems from the new book with you.<\/p>\n
I spend a great deal of time in planes, on my way to and from. In this poem, I tripped into a moment of seeing myself as the grown son of a man I am more like than I realized.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Feeling the Oar<\/strong><\/p>\n
I was in the air, frustrated<\/p>\n
that fog had delayed us. Now,<\/p>\n
I would miss my flight to Dallas<\/p>\n
where I was on my way to speak<\/p>\n
about obstacles as teachers.<\/p>\n
I was feeling pissed off<\/p>\n
when I noticed my left hand<\/p>\n
on the seat\u2014it was my father\u2019s<\/p>\n
hand\u2014the large knuckles, the<\/p>\n
pronounced veins, the bark-like<\/p>\n
wrinkles at the base of my thumb.<\/p>\n
It was his hand as I had seen it<\/p>\n
countless times: guiding a piece of<\/p>\n
wood through a band saw or tapping<\/p>\n
on an open book as he would<\/p>\n
try to understand.<\/p>\n
I opened and closed it like<\/p>\n
someone waking from a long sleep.<\/p>\n
It is the hand I write with. And it<\/p>\n
is weathered, an immigrant hand,<\/p>\n
rough from crossing many seas.<\/p>\n
Had it not been for the fog and the<\/p>\n
delay, I wouldn\u2019t have noticed.<\/p>\n
I touched it with my other hand;<\/p>\n
trying to know my father,<\/p>\n
trying to feel the oar,<\/p>\n
trying to remember the sea.<\/p>\n
A Question to Walk With: Is one of your parents or relatives someone you feel most like? If so, who is that person and what traits of theirs do you find coming alive in you?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
______________ My new book of poems, Reduced to Joy, is just being published. The book contains seventy-three poems, retrieved and shaped over the last thirteen years, about the nature of working with what we\u2019re given till it wears us through to joy. For the next few months, I\u2019d like to share poems from the new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2540,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marks-weekly-reflections"],"yoast_head":"\n
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