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On the other side of nowhere,
Lies an infinite expanse,
Of anything and everything
That doesn't make much sense.
I'm in here, and you're out there;
The picture keeps rewinding.
People laughing, crying, feeling...
I do not understand.
It's almost there within my reach;
But on the other hand,
I'm sliding, slithering, slowly slipping...
The tide has turned, and left the beach.
Pressing onward, pushing hard,
I cannot quit; I must move on.
My ragged feet have timeless trod
A land before, that lies beyond
Behind, sideways, and forward;
Strange and weird, bizarre and odd.
Shimmering meadows glazed in fog...
I see what others cannot hear.
My mindless mind is almost bare;
I stretch beyond Horizon's pier,
Precariously tottering on a log,
On the other side of nowhere...
by Frank George
Friday, April 1, 2011
April Is
The Other Side of Nowhere
Hello from my own other side of nowhere! Today is the first day of both National Poetry Month and National Autism Awareness Month. What better way to kick off both than with a poem about autism by someone who is autistic? I found the poem above a few days ago on this site.
Now, I know some of you think today is all about (im)practical jokes and other such tomfoolery, but I don't recognize that holiday. I love a good joke or prank, and I do enjoy the mocked up news stories, but too many people have carried it too far. And honestly, your jokes aren't funny and I'm not fooled. So just quit already. If it weren't for the fact that April 1st begins a month of awareness for two things I am passionate about (poetry and autism, that is), it would be the most annoying day of the year.
Ahem. So, back to what this day is really about. First of all, National Autism Awareness Month. You can read more about it here. Secondly, National Poetry Month. You can find out more about that here. Also, April 14 is Poem In Your Pocket Day, but you don't have to wait until the 14th to carry a poem in your pocket. You can start today and find a new poem for each day if you like. Print the poem above and carry it in your pocket if you like. It was written by an autistic man, but it rings true for me. I feel I've been there before--many times.
That's the beauty of poetry. Poetry is self expression, but good poetry is more. Good poetry ties us all together and helps us see how connected we are. No matter how different we sometimes think we are, we all share some things. Poetry helps us celebrate (and sometimes mourn) both our similarities and our differences and what it is to be human. It helps us understand one another.
How fitting then that National Autism Awareness Month should fall during National Poetry Month. The world could use a lot more understanding. Let this April be a reminder to work harder to understand others and celebrate the paradox of our amazing diversity and astonishing sameness.
And remember to carry a poem in the secret pocket of your heart and a song in your mouth. Always.
Do you have any favorite poems? What poem or poems speak most to you? What is the poem that fits you best right now? What poem is the theme of your life and heart?
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8 comments:
Darn you! You beat me to the punch with this Nation Poetry Month thang. I was 51 minutes late on my post.
I'm in the process of copying and shrinking my favorite poems to create a little notebook of poems that will fit in my pock. Maybe I'll share it on the blog.
Darn you!
I love this!!! Great post. I like poems, but I can't think of any right now. I need to read more of them. Thanks for the inspiration!!!
Ummm - love most poetry but especially our own AB (Banjo) Paterson's 'The Man From Snowy River' and Henry Lawson's 'The Bush Christening' = not so much for their artistic appeal as for their story-telling and the fact that my father recited them to us as we mustered as children.
Also love 'Stop All the Clocks' by WH Auden (the one from Four WEddings and a Funeral) which makes me cry.
I wore blue for April 1 and the start of Autism Month!
:-)
BB
There is something that seems very right to me about poetry and autism having the same month--poets and people with autism (and their support networks) often don't get the appreciation and respect they deserve.
Check out the videos on the site below, I think you'll really like them:
http://www.rethinkingautism.com
God Bless!
Wow, what a great poem - thank you for sharing it. Here's a poetry site I really like as well: http://chloerichmond.wordpress.com/. Enjoy!
speaking of April Fool jokes -- I don't think this was one ... BUT...
We got a call from National Autism (??) on the 1st thanking us for volunteering to go door to door in our neighborhood.
I asked my husband if he'd volunteered. he hadn't. I hadn't.
hmmmm?
American Life in Poetry: Column 323
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE
Joe Paddock is a Minnesota poet and he and I are, as we say in the Midwest, “of an age.” Here is a fine poem about arriving at a stage when there can be great joy in accepting life as it comes to us.
One’s Ship Comes In
I swear
my way now will be
to continue without
plan or hope, to accept
the drift of things, to shift
from endless effort
to joy in, say,
that robin, plunging
into the mossy shallows
of my bird bath and
splashing madly till
the air shines with spray.
Joy it will be, say,
in Nancy, pretty in pink
and rumpled T-shirt,
rubbing sleep from her eyes, or
joy even in
just this breathing, free
of fright and clutch, knowing
how one’s ship comes in
with each such breath.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2009 by Joe Paddock from his most recent book of poetry, “Dark Dreaming, Global Dimming,” Red Dragonfly Press, 2009. Reprinted by permission of Joe Paddock and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2009 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.
Wow nice Poet. Thanks for innovative poets.
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