{"id":1929,"date":"2010-04-29T18:48:11","date_gmt":"2010-04-30T00:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1929"},"modified":"2010-04-29T18:48:11","modified_gmt":"2010-04-30T00:48:11","slug":"poetry-friday-a-bit-early-laughing-so-loud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1929","title":{"rendered":"Poetry Friday-a-Bit-Early: Laughing So Loud"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ah. Poetry Friday, I’ve missed you. Well, I hosted a couple weeks ago<\/a><\/strong>, but it still feels like forever since I’ve simply shared a poem I read and loved.<\/p>\n

And that’s what I’m doing today. And this will be short and sweet. I’ll let the poem speak for itself. Except to say, quite simply, that I’m edging forty. Surprisingly to me, it’s challenging my previously-held beliefs that I Won’t Mind Getting Older, and it’s been making me feel restless. Making me stare at young ones in their twenties and wanting to pull them aside on the street and whisper to them: Be sure you live it up. Wield passion. Laugh loud and undiminished (as David Gray<\/a><\/strong> once wrote). <\/p>\n

So, here then is Ron Koertge’s “Do You Have Any Advice For Those of Us Just Starting Out?” (also featured in ’09<\/a><\/strong> at Sara Lewis Holmes’ fantastic blog). Rather, here’s part of it with a link to the poem-in-its-entirety at Poetry 180<\/em>. It’s short. And powerful. Won’t take you long to read. Enjoy.<\/p>\n

* * * * * * *<\/center><\/p>\n

“Give up sitting dutifully at your desk. Leave
\nyour house or apartment. Go out into the world.<\/p>\n

It’s all right to carry a notebook but a cheap
\none is best, with pages the color of weak tea
\nand on the front a kitten or a space ship.<\/p>\n

Avoid any enclosed space where more than
\nthree people are wearing turtlenecks. Beware
\nany snow-covered chalet with deer tracks
\nacross the muffled tennis courts…”<\/p>\n

Read the rest here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

* * * * * * *<\/center><\/p>\n

Poetry Friday is being hosted tomorrow by Mary Ann at Great Kid Books<\/a><\/strong><\/em>. Also: Don’t miss Tricia’s April feature on Koertge<\/a><\/strong> at The Miss Rumphius Effect<\/em>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ah. Poetry Friday, I’ve missed you. Well, I hosted a couple weeks ago, but it still feels like forever since I’ve simply shared a poem I read and loved. And that’s what I’m doing today. And this will be short and sweet. I’ll let the poem speak for itself. Except to say, quite simply, that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry-friday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1929\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}