Poem of the Day
The ever-evolving COVID-19 situation has disrupted our daily lives, forcing us to adapt to new realities of quarantine and social distancing. As plans and routines are put aside, many of us find ourselves with unusually large amounts of free time. Rather than be paralyzed by boredom, the Hart Leadership Program invites you to use this newfound time as an opportunity for reflection. Critical reflection is critical for leadership development and is something we emphasize in our courses. Reflection helps us make sense of the world and our role in it.
We also know that poets and poetry have a long track record of expanding our capacity for seeing and understanding complexity, and for discovering insight, empathy, and a capacity to act in the face of unmoving obstacles.
To that end, we are featuring a new resource at Hart: a poem of the day, which can be found and read here, as well as on our Facebook page. We are fortunate to have the wisdom and leadership of Hart Professor and creative writing teacher Faulkner Fox to lead us in this project. Each morning, we will post a new a poem, while previous poems will continue to be accessible on our website for as long as social distancing is our watch-word. We strongly encourage you to share any reactions to the poems to info@hart.sanford.duke.edu. Please also pass along poems that have brought you comfort, insight, and strength. Send them to thalia.halloran@duke.edu. Looking to read more comforting poems? Check out the Shelter in Poems initiative.
Thursday, May 28th – “Black Matters” by Keith Wilson
Wednesday, May 27th – “no preponderance” by Hiwot Adilow
Monday, May 25th and Tuesday, May 26th – “Unusual Tightrope” by A.H. Jerriod Avant
Sunday, May 24th – “Petition” by Dilruba Ahmed
Saturday, May 23rd – “When I Am Asked” by Lisel Mueller
Friday, May 22nd – “Eating Poetry” by Mark Strand
Thursday, May 21st – “Peanut Butter” by Eileen Myles
Wednesday, May 20th – “I Have News For You” by Tony Hoagland
Tuesday, May 19th – “Blackberrying” by Sylvia Plath
Monday, May 18th – “Last Body” by Mai Der Vang
Sunday, May 17th – “You Mean You Don’t Weep at the Nail Salon?” by Elizabeth Acevedo
Saturday, May 16th – “Self Portrait with Profanity” by Safia Elhillo
Friday, May 15th – “Thanks” by W.S. Merwin
Thursday, May 14th – “Requiem for a Nest” by Wanda Coleman
Wednesday, May 13th – “The Definition of Gardening” by James Tate
Tuesday, May 12th – Bottom speaking in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare
Monday, May 11th – “Keeping Quiet” by Pablo Neruda
Sunday, May 10th – “the mother” by Gwendolyn Brown
Saturday, May 9th – “Shaking the Grass” by Janice N. Harrington
Friday, May 8th – “Bullet Points” by Jericho Brown
Thursday, May 7th – “Like You” by Roque Dalton
Wednesday, May 6th – “Continue” by Maya Angelou
Tuesday, May 5th – “Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802” by William Wordsworth
Monday, May 4th – “When Giving Is All We Have” by Alberto Ríos
Sunday, May 3rd – “Poetic Subjects” by Rebecca Lindenberg
Saturday, May 2nd – “What to Eat, What to Drink, and What to Leave for Poison” by Camille T. Dungy
Friday, May 1st – “This Be The Verse” by Philip Larkin
Thursday, April 30th – “Quarantine” by Eavan Boland
Wednesday, April 29th – “You Can Have It” by Philip Levine
Tuesday, April 28th – “Small Kindnesses” by Danusha Laméris
Monday, April 27th – “Furious Cooking” by Maureen Seaton
Sunday, April 26th – “Poet Dances with Inanimate Object” by Cornelius Eady
Saturday, April 25th – “Choices” by Tess Gallagher
Friday, April 24th – “Her Kind” by Anne Sexton
Thursday, April 23rd – “Hotel” by Guillaume Apollinaire
Wednesday, April 22nd – “The Voice of God” by Crystal Williams
Tuesday, April 21st – “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop
Monday, April 20th – “Rite of Passage” by Sharon Olds
Sunday, April 19th – “Any and All” by Joseph Lawrence
Saturday, April 18th – “Some Rules” by Wendy Cope
Friday, April 17th – “High Treason” by José Emilio Pacheco
Thursday, April 16th – “Tomorrow, At Dawn” by Victor Hugo
Wednesday, April 15th – “Alone for a Week” by Jane Kenyon
Tuesday, April 14th – “Dawn Revisited” by Rita Dove
Monday, April 13th – “What the Living Do” by Marie Howe
Sunday, April 12th – “anna speaks of the childhood of mary her daughter” by Lucille Clifton
Saturday, April 11th – “The Place Where We Are Right” by Yehuda Amichai
Friday, April 10th – “If I Didn’t Live” by Gioconda Belli
Thursday, April 9th – “Grace” by Craig Arnold
Wednesday, April 8th – “I’m Learning Nothing This Night” by Reginald Dwayne Betts
Tuesday, April 7th – “Broom” by Deborah Digges
Monday, April 6th – “Strictly Speaking” by David Rivard
Sunday, April 5th – “Once by the Pacific” by Robert Frost
Saturday, April 4th – “Who Burns for the Perfection of Paper” by Martín Espada
Friday, April 3rd – “Mercy (After Nikki Giovanni)” by Rudy Francisco
Thursday, April 2nd – “The Attic” by Cynthia Huntington
Wednesday, April 1st – “Lake Echo, Dear” by C. D. Wright
Tuesday, March 31st – “Instructions on Not Giving Up” by Ada Limón
Monday, March 30th – “Eagle Poem” by Joy Harjo
Sunday, March 29th – “An Old Story” by Tracy K. Smith
Saturday, March 28th – “Love After Love” by Derek Walcott
Friday, March 27th – “Danse Russe” by William Carlos Williams
Thursday, March 26th – “I Am Offering This Poem” by Jimmy Santiago Baca
Wednesday, March 25th – “Ars Poetica #100: I Believe” by Elizabeth Alexander
Tuesday, March 24th – “North American Time” by Adrienne Rich
Monday, March 23rd – “Trying to Name What Doesn’t Change” by Naomi Shihab Nye
Sunday, March 22nd – “Concerning That Prayer I Cannot Make” by Jane Mead
Saturday, March 21st – “This Room and Everything in It” by Li-Young Lee
Friday, March 20th – “blessing the boats” by Lucille Clifton