What a chaotic six months—struggling through winter, health issues with loved ones and my injuries. These are things that require redefinition of self, priorities, and goals. I’ve been distressed by National and International politics. My confidence in the meaning and value of my writing is wavering. Rejection is the norm in this business. Any self-doubt is poison.
But now, the days are longer and the elections are over. And perhaps a knee brace may permit a return to racket sports. (Pickleball anyway) And although my motivation for writing is the lowest since I started this blog, I have been reading.
In the dark and wet of January, I forced myself to memorize a poem, a villanelle—Robert Frost, “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening”. It’s likely you memorized it in school. Whose woods these are, I think I know… Classic iambic tetrameter.
I printed a copy and folded it into my jacket pocket. As I went for evening walks, I tortured my brittle brain with recall. What rhymes with shake? Oh yes, mistake. See the woods? No! Watch the woods. The woods or his woods. Longest night or evening? I had to go slowly. I had to pay attention to every detail. My walks had more rhythm and more purpose. I was calmer, filled with the rhythm and sounds of this classic poem.
A while ago, I wrote about the Nobel Prize-winning author, Olga Tokarczuk. She wrote a lovely book, The Lost Soul (illustrated by Joanna Concejo and translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones).
The premise is that a cause of unhappiness, dissatisfaction is when there is a mismatch between the pace of the brain and body and the pace of the soul. The soul moves slowly. I often insist that my brain and body move quickly. Was walking and memorizing poetry forcing me to slow dow?
Last month, along with many subscribers of The New York Times, we learned “Recuerdo” by Enda St. Vincent Millay. We were very tired, we were very merry, we had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
There were videos of writers including St. Vincent Millay, Lauren Groff and Ann Patchett reading the poem for further inspiration.
At the end of the five-day course, you could upload a video of your recitation. (which I didn’t, but performance of poetry could be a next step) And once again, studying and memorizing “Recuerdo”, made me calmer and happier—nourished by the rhythm and details of the stanzas.
Ah! Slow down. Pay attention to your soul. Think and move at a speed that suits your soul. It seems that my soul likes the speed of not only reading poetry but learning it. My brain likes the pace of learning every detail. My heart likes knowing I carry the piece everywhere I go
I’m understanding more about what my soul needs—what my soul speed is and how it fits in with the rest of me, my brain and my body. How’s your soul doing? What’s your soul speed?
If you are looking for more inspiration and guidance about poems to memorize and how to recapture the fading art of memorization, consider the Academy of American Poets, Committed to Memory, where there are some suggestions. You can revisit the ones you learned years ago and also subscribe to Poem-a-Day.
Thanks for reading.