Day #28: Poetry Foundation

Celebrating National Poetry Month by highlighting 30 days of literary publishers who produce poetry you can listen to, watch, or read, in 5 minutes or less.

Did you ever look for a poem because you found an unusual fish on the beach?

Well now you know something about me.

This is a Thornback Guitarfish, my first encounter. Dog Beach, California. Beyond being intrigued by its unusual look, I was epicly curious as to what I’d found and even more confounded that no one else seemed to give it any attention.

And when I say it’s the first time I’ve ever seen one, you must understand that I’ve clocked thousands of hours walking the coastline. They’re not as common as houseflies, nor even as everyday as dolphins slicing the waves. On the Conservation Scale, they’re a species of least concern.

This got me thinking that maybe poetry is the Guitarfish of the word world. There are so many literary encounters swirling around us. Podcasts. Captions. Novels. Memoirs. Kids lit. And yes, poetry.

It can be super interesting, hardly near extinction, exceedingly unique, yet entirely ignored.

So this poem match is for you if you’re you interested in a poetry first encounter, or with finding a resource to discover a poem to complement an experience or a mood.

From the “About Us” page:

OUR MISSION
The Poetry Foundation transforms lives through the power of words. Our work aims to amplify poetry and celebrate poets by fostering spaces for all to create, experience, and share poetry.

The Poetry Foundation uses digital technology to reach and engage a broad audience for poetry. Through its award-winning website, newsletters, like the immensely popular Poem of the Day; podcasts, and social media, the Foundation seeks to create new poetry readers, serve existing poetry fans, and support Foundation initiatives and programs. 

• Explore poems
• Discover poets
• Subscribe to newsletters
• Listen to podcasts

I wish I’d traced the steps that lead me to find this poem, “Characteristics of Life” by Camille Dungy. I didn’t. But I do know that it’s the perfect match for a day when you want to consider the marvel of the creatures we share our planet with.

It begins like this:

Characteristics of Life

A fifth of animals without backbones could be at risk of extinction, say scientists.
—BBC Nature News

       Ask me if I speak for the snail and I will tell you

I speak for the snail.

                         I speak of underneathedness

and the welcome of mosses,

                                       of life that springs up,

little lives that pull back and wait for a moment.

FROM “CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE” BY CAMILLE DUNGY

Let me know what you discover today.

Something strange as a guitarfish, or as common as a snail.

Nature is an everlasting gift.