Did you ever get so busy at the end of National Poetry month that you forgot to post poem #10 of your top ten poems until May? Well, here we are in May and I want to share a collection of creative writing that I go to for insight and inspiration. I’ve never seen it in the Poetry section in a library or bookstore, but these small, personified qualities are poetic in the the most beautiful sense of the word.
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The Book of Qualities By J. Ruth Gendler
Here’s the section/poem called
Joy
Joy drinks pure water. She has sat with the dying and attended many births. She denies nothing. She is in love with life, all of it, the sun and the rain and the rainbow. She rides horses at Half Moon Bay under the October moon. She climbs mountains. She sings in the hills. She jumps from the hot spring to the cold stream without hestitation.
Although Joy is spontaneous, she is immensely patient. She does not need to rush. She knows that there are obstacles on every path and that every moment is the perfect moment. She is not concerned with success or failure or how to make things permanent.
At times Joy is elusive — she seems to disappear even as we approach her. I see her standing on a ridge covered with oak trees, and suddenly the distance between us feels enormous. I am overwhelmed and wonder if the effort to reach her is worth it. Yet, she waits for us. Her desire to walk with us is as great as our longing to accompany her.