Poetry Emotion
Friends!
This week, I am using poetry as a springboard for reflections. And that is really out of character for me. I am NOT a big consumer of poetry. But I am a huge admirer of words. The written word allows us to articulate our deeper human truths, which sometimes resonate so powerfully that I become moved, stunned, inspired, or confused. Or sometimes all of those emotions at once!
Obviously, the world of words has played and will continue to play an incredibly important role in the way we navigate the journey of life. It facilitates the same momentum as a public forum on paper. It wasn't until we developed language, and later on the Gutenberg press, that humans really began to flourish. It was a flashpoint. Suddenly, once we were able to communicate beyond our tribes and our villages, we began to learn invaluable lessons both about life's inherent limitations, as well as its vast opportunities. It wasn’t just about the ruling class anymore – the printing press democratized the world. Suddenly, education became even more powerful and literacy ruled supreme. It’s something we all take for granted: the magic of communicating with the written word and understanding one another.
Words can, like almost nothing else, transport our souls to places they cannot go, feelings they cannot access, and comprehensions they cannot grasp. In a way, words are boundaryless, limitless, and free ways of imagining what life can be like. Without words, we would be trapped in the confined reality of our own experience.
My first real entry into the world of poetry, which opened entirely new doors for me, was when a friend introduced me to David Whyte and his 1996 book The Heart Aroused. I was in my early 30s, but I remember so clearly that it brought me to places I had not yet visited.
Since then, I have connected with many different kinds of poets that have moved me with their words, ranging from spoken word poets to more classic ones. While I still don't read poetry often, I frequently return to my favorite poems and I have listed two of them below.
In a recent interview (also linked to below), David read a poem he has written called Honesty. Here an excerpt:
“HONESTY is reached through the doorway of grief and loss.
Where we cannot go in our mind, our memory, or our body is where we cannot be straight with another, with the world, or with our self.
The fear of loss, in one form or another, is the motivator behind all conscious and unconscious dishonesties: all of us are afraid of loss, in all its forms, all of us, at times, are haunted or overwhelmed by the possibility of a disappearance, and all of us therefore, are one short step away from dishonesty.
Every human being dwells intimately close to a door of revelation they are afraid to pass through.
Honesty lies in understanding our close and necessary relationship with not wanting to hear the truth.”
— DAVID WHYTE
When I heard this read in David’s unmistakably charming Irish-Yorkshire-slightly-Americanized tone, I shivered to my core. Wow – how beautiful and powerful?
Honesty lies in understanding our close and necessary relationship with not wanting to hear the truth
There are really only two emotions that truly inform and impact the decisions we make as humans. Love and fear. Most of what we do is born from an innate desire to either experience love or avoid fear. And, unfortunately, particularly in our public discourse and conversations, we are consumed by more fear and less love. And as David so beautifully writes, when we are afraid, we don't want to hear what fuels that fear. We'd rather feed our minds and bodies with facts, fiction, or addiction that numb the fear. We ultimately become separated from important truths that are other people's lived realities. That's unfortunately where a lot of our public conversation sits. Sadly.
So, here is to more beautiful poetry. Let’s bask in the glow of truth and connection. Below, I am listing a few links and two of my personal favorites that I carry with me and let them guide me through most of my human experiences. They are like constant reminders of what I care about most — knowing who and what I am and my commitment to LOVE.
First, the famous T.S. Eliot poem from Four Quartets. I have always loved this one. To me, it has so much meaning and resonance around life as a journey, the importance of discovery, the joy of travel (literally, figuratively, and spiritually), but most importantly (to quote Shakespeare): "To Thine Own Self Be True." The importance of self-awareness and that knowing yourself requires curiosity, vulnerability, loss, and pain – as well as tons of hard work!
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
— T.S. ELIOT, FOUR QUARTETS
The other favorite is from the Lebanese-American poet Khalil Gibran written in 1923. It's the kind of love that I aspire to live by. It's the kind of love that Scott Peck writes beautifully about in A Road Less Traveled defining love as: "not a feeling, it is an activity and an investment. The will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth". I wrote about that in my post on LOVE in August last year.
“Let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together, yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.”
— KHALIL GIBRAN, THE PROPHET
Here is some further inspiration around poetry. I threw in some other favorites if you want to travel to places, emotions, and experiences you might have not been to lately!
Here is the beautiful podcast interview by Sam Harris with David Whyte where he reads some incredible poems and goes deeper on the process of poetry and happiness.
If you want more of David Whyte, here is another great podcast with the ever so incredible Krista Tippett interviewing David.
Regie Gibson has performed beautiful poetry at many On Cue events hosted by our VC firm Cue Ball each year. You can find incredible poems on his site here and a special recording he did for On Cue last year when we couldn't gather.
The first time that I was really moved by spoken word poetry was while watching Sarah Kay's 2011 TED talk, which you can find here. It still moves me.
I would be remiss if I didn't once again link to Amanda Gorman's incredible inauguration poetry, which she delivered so powerfully and beautifully.
Last but not least, if you like words, and if you are NOT a subscriber to Brainpickings you are in luck. This is Maria Popova's newsletter on anything written, with an emphasis on the words that have stood the test of time. I find her curation to be beautiful, artful, and very valuable.
So, with that, enjoy your Sunday. Read something that takes you to places you need to visit. And come back renewed, inspired, and grateful!
