So much truth in this poem, and in this essay. I love this line “you do not have to be more than you are; you are, in your who-you-are-ness, miraculous.” So much!!! It is a mantra worth repeating. It strikes me that the problem of empire can be both internal and external. As a business owner, I feel the constant pressure to be more than I am. To rise to the challenge. Same with being a parent. It is hard to recognize and be ok with yourself -let alone see the miracle in yourself- when the world demands more. But, the other side is I have often felt the desire to be more, in relationships, in conversations, at the expense of those around me. Expanding myself to take up all the air in the room.
This notion of being enough (and miraculous) is so important to keep in mind, and so difficult. But when I do allow myself to begin to understand this, it opens me up to the fullness of the beauty of others and the world around. Something I struggle with. But a wonderful thing to be reminded of. Something I need daily reminders of, if not hourly.
Thanks for sharing this and introducing me to this poet. These words on Sunday mornings are always a source of renewal.
Grateful to be introduced to the poetry of Jim Moore early on this Sunday morning.
The word "small" brought to mind lyrics from a song from 1967 by George Harrison:
Try to realize it's all within yourself
No one else can make you change
And to see you're really only very small
And life flows on within you and without you
With a little googling, I was gratified to learn more about Jim Moore's life and poetry, including his experience in prison:
"This experience changed everything for me as a writer. I had never lived outside of academic institutions. At first, I hid the fact that I was a poet. Eventually this came out, but instead of finding myself ridiculed, I found myself respected (and far too much) for it. Inmates of all ages, mostly Black and Hispanic, wanted me to teach a poetry class. So I did. I discovered that a big notebook was kept secretly (passed from inmate to inmate so the risk was shared) and at some cost (its discovery would have resulted in the loss of good time, which meant a longer stay in prison) in which inmates kept poems—poems of their own and poems by poets whose work they loved, mostly Black poets, but I remember Neruda was there, Whitman, and Longfellow, of all people."
This was such an artful articulation of a powerful concept:
"Isn’t there, in these lines, something about smallness? Something about the ordinary act of walking at dusk, of sending a card in the mail? And isn’t there something about how empire can punish such small acts with massive consequences — nearly a year of one’s freedom, completely gone? And yet, in there, isn’t there something, too, about what power such small acts must have, if they are met with such brutality by the full force of empire? And so, in such smallness — isn’t there something large?"
So much truth in this poem, and in this essay. I love this line “you do not have to be more than you are; you are, in your who-you-are-ness, miraculous.” So much!!! It is a mantra worth repeating. It strikes me that the problem of empire can be both internal and external. As a business owner, I feel the constant pressure to be more than I am. To rise to the challenge. Same with being a parent. It is hard to recognize and be ok with yourself -let alone see the miracle in yourself- when the world demands more. But, the other side is I have often felt the desire to be more, in relationships, in conversations, at the expense of those around me. Expanding myself to take up all the air in the room.
This notion of being enough (and miraculous) is so important to keep in mind, and so difficult. But when I do allow myself to begin to understand this, it opens me up to the fullness of the beauty of others and the world around. Something I struggle with. But a wonderful thing to be reminded of. Something I need daily reminders of, if not hourly.
Thanks for sharing this and introducing me to this poet. These words on Sunday mornings are always a source of renewal.
Thank you for this, John — for reading and sharing. Appreciate you.
I read so much of this one aloud to my husband. Always showing me that radical thought ripples out from poetry
Thank you, Dia 😭 appreciate it and you!
Grateful to be introduced to the poetry of Jim Moore early on this Sunday morning.
The word "small" brought to mind lyrics from a song from 1967 by George Harrison:
Try to realize it's all within yourself
No one else can make you change
And to see you're really only very small
And life flows on within you and without you
With a little googling, I was gratified to learn more about Jim Moore's life and poetry, including his experience in prison:
"This experience changed everything for me as a writer. I had never lived outside of academic institutions. At first, I hid the fact that I was a poet. Eventually this came out, but instead of finding myself ridiculed, I found myself respected (and far too much) for it. Inmates of all ages, mostly Black and Hispanic, wanted me to teach a poetry class. So I did. I discovered that a big notebook was kept secretly (passed from inmate to inmate so the risk was shared) and at some cost (its discovery would have resulted in the loss of good time, which meant a longer stay in prison) in which inmates kept poems—poems of their own and poems by poets whose work they loved, mostly Black poets, but I remember Neruda was there, Whitman, and Longfellow, of all people."
I came across that same essay! Wonderful words by Moore. Thank you, Amanda.
This was such an artful articulation of a powerful concept:
"Isn’t there, in these lines, something about smallness? Something about the ordinary act of walking at dusk, of sending a card in the mail? And isn’t there something about how empire can punish such small acts with massive consequences — nearly a year of one’s freedom, completely gone? And yet, in there, isn’t there something, too, about what power such small acts must have, if they are met with such brutality by the full force of empire? And so, in such smallness — isn’t there something large?"
Really loved reading this, thank you!
I love this! Similar themes are explored in R.F. Kuang’s “Babel”