i will be the gladdest thing under the sun



when spring comes, life explodes with poetry.
it's funny, in march and april i love to read edna st.vincent millay, t.s. eliot, the romantics like coleridge and wordsworth and keats, whitman, and some contemporary poets too, like sharon doubiago. i think it harkens back to the year i was studying for my graduate exam, reading feverishly in the midst of a very busy social life. absorbing poetry and literature, then breathing it out through my skin. i've said it before, and it rings true every year:
poetry fills the springtime.

i wish i had a poetry reading group that met every vernal equinox. read poetry together to our hearts' content, if only for that one meticulously balanced day.

we celebrated the beginning of spring with a little picnic in sutter creek. 
















Afternoon on a Hill

I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one.

I will look at cliffs and clouds
With quiet eyes.
Watch the wind bow down the grass,
And the grass rise.

And when the lights begin to show
Up from the town,
I will mark which must be mine,
And then start down.


- Edna St. Vincent Millay







Comments

Unknown said…
Please let me know if you start that poetry group. I'll be saving my pennies til next spring to get there.
Amy Beatty said…
such a magical little spot. So green and lush. I adore that little family photo xoxoxo
Milla said…
I feel the same way about this time of year. T.S Eliot is my personal favorite for march and april, and always Snyder and Oliver. You guys look like a cackle of spring birds and a bundle of flowers. Love ya. And ditto Rachel for heading out there for the poetry.
Anonymous said…
yes, i was thinking about the same thing...i would love to read poetry with you! sign me up! LOVE this poem by edna...i haven't read much of her and this inspires me to. i always associate e.e. cummings with spring, but i might have to switch to little girls who follow little cats over hill and dale! so good to see your fresh faces. xo
Cel said…
I should really start reading poetry again. I have a soft spot in my heart for William Wordsworth for his nature works. And that photo of Darin and your wee one, so sweet! This just makes me yearn so much for spring, it's not even funny!

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