Dear Blog...

Dear Blog,
I’m sorry I haven’t written in a while. I’ve meant to…honest. Please don’t feel bad. It’s not you; it’s me. My other life just keeps getting in the way. I think of you often—and with affection too.

There are so many things I’ve wanted to tell you: how April is the cruelest month, my impressions of Complexions Contemporary Ballet (and Wayne McGregor before that, and Hubbard before that…), and that I like New York in June (how about you?).

But I didn’t write any of those things. I wasn’t being a very good sharer. I’ll try to be better. Pinky promise. Starting right now. Here’s a poem that I’ve always loved:

You Begin
by Margaret Atwood

You begin this way:
this is your hand,
this is your eye,
that is a fish, blue and flat
on the paper, almost
the shape of an eye.
This is your mouth, this is an O
or a moon, whichever
you like. This is yellow.

Outside the window
is the rain, green
because it is summer, and beyond that
the trees and then the world,
which is round and has only
the colors of these nine crayons.

This is the world, which is fuller
and more difficult to learn than I have said.
You are right to smudge it that way
with the red and then
the orange: the world burns.

Once you have learned these words
you will learn that there are more
words than you can ever learn.
The word hand floats above your hand
like a small cloud over a lake.
The word hand anchors
your hand to this table,
your hand is a warm stone
I hold between two words.

This is your hand, these are my hands, this is the world,
which is round but not flat and has more colors
than we can see.

It begins, it has an end,
this is what you will
come back to, this is your hand.

Sincerely,
Jenny Wren


4 comments:

MightyToyCannon said...

Thank you for the lovely poem. Did you know that it's National Poetry Month? We should really keep this blog thing going.

Jenny Wren said...

Now you're talking! I'd forgotten that April is poetry month. A happy coincidence.

Miss Laura said...

Oh, and here I thought you were being timely. I ditto MTC: Thank you for the lovely poem. And thank you for blogging, Jenny Wren. A poem following Pretty in Pink and The Hairy Dude. Nice juxtaposition. Sorry we didn't get to chat more after Hubbard Street. I turned around and you were vamoose. I need to socially multitask better. My bad.

Jenny Wren said...

Not bad at all, Miss Laura. It was just a busy scene. Mr. Scatter has a lot of fans! We'll have to find another opportunity.

We are a very eclectic bunch here. I'm thinking maybe my next post should be about hellbenders.