The Uses of Sorrow by Mary Oliver

(In my sleep I dreamed this poem)

Someone I loved once gave me
a box full of darkness.

It took me years to understand
that this, too, was a gift.

Each From Different Heights

Stephen Dunn

That time I thought I was in love

and calmly said so

was not much different from the time

I was truly in love

and slept poorly and spoke out loud

to the wall

and discovered the hidden genius

of my hands.

And the times I felt less in love,

less than someone,

were, to be honest, not so different

either.

Each was ridiculous in its own way

and each was tender, yes,

sometimes even the false is tender.

I am astounded

by the various kisses we’re capable of.

Each from different heights

diminished, which is simply the law.

And the big bruise

from the longer fall looked perfectly white

in a few years.

That astounded me most of all.

i take my glasses off

Lucille Clifton 

it is the hard

edge of things

i am avoiding

the separations

so that i can take my glasses off

and then i cannot tell

which are the leaves

and which the angels

like blake

like that man

who lived with the lepers

not noticing what was sin

and what was grace

visioning visions vision

i take my glasses off

so i can see

#poets

 “Most people don’t see you. They see how you make them feel.”

I don’t know if anyone knows how disingenuous you are. 

How you’ve cultivated a facade of sincerity and approachability that hides your cutting and callous nature. 

How scary inappropriate. Invasive. Indecent. Insecure you truly are.

How being born plain will always be an impossible hurdle for your super-sized ego to bear. 

How you exercise your ‘power’ over people by getting away with crossing boundaries and never getting caught doing the diabolical things you do. 

 

The Past by Stephen Dunn

Herrings begin to glow just after they die, 

never while alive. When I read this 

I wanted to sit for a long  time in the dark. 

Nothing in nature is a metaphor. 

Everything is. I thought both thoughts. 

And I knew inexactly why I felt sad. 

Herrings dead and a glow- 

I should have been properly amazed, 

the way anyone. looking at a star 

would be., realizing it was years away, 

untouchable. Yet there it is, shining.