If to say it once
\nAnd once only, then still
\nTo say: Yes.
\nAnd say it complete,
\nSay it as if the word
\nFilled the whole moment
\nWith its absolute saying.
\nLater for \u201cbut,\u201d
\nLater for \u201cif.\u201d
\nNow
\nOnly the single syllable
\nThat is the beloved,
\nThat is the world.<\/p>\n
Gregory Orr Say yes.\u00a0\u00a0Open your whole heart. Drop all your fears and hesitations. Say yes to love.\u00a0\u00a0Say yes to loving the world and being a part of the world.\u00a0\u00a0God is yes.<\/p>\n Gregory Orr is my new favorite poet. I know I said that about Jess, but they both thrill me in different ways. And they are both doing exactly want I want to do as a poet. Unlike Jess who brings in history, politics, identity, as well as the playwright\u2019s craft of creating characters and a narrative, Orr, in this book at least, is all worship.\u00a0\u00a0Every poem is a prayer.\u00a0\u00a0He reminds me a lot of Ladinsky\u2019s translations of Hafiz, just ecstatic yes.<\/p>\n Like prayer, this poem reminds me of my deepest values. This is how I want to be in the world. I don\u2019t want to be caught by petty insecurities or even real doubts and fears. I want to throw myself open to the beloved in an ecstatic yes.<\/p>\n Ok, my next goal is to write a poem with this level of authority in the speaker\u2019s voice.\u00a0\u00a0I mean the audacity of just telling the reader how to be at the deepest spiritual level. I also like the short words and short lines. One craft element you won\u2019t realize from this poem alone is really this entire book is one poem.\u00a0\u00a0The individual poems aren\u2019t titled and the book is called How Beautiful the Beloved<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0I highly recommend it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If to say it once And once only, then still To say: Yes. And say it complete, Say it as if the word Filled the whole moment With its absolute saying. Later for \u201cbut,\u201d Later for \u201cif.\u201d Now Only the single syllable That is the beloved, That is the world. Gregory Orr [untitled] what it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poem-reviews"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/debbiebacharach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/debbiebacharach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/debbiebacharach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/debbiebacharach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/debbiebacharach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2429"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/debbiebacharach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2544,"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/debbiebacharach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2429\/revisions\/2544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/debbiebacharach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/debbiebacharach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/debbiebacharach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n[untitled]<\/em><\/p>\n
\nwhat it means<\/h3>\n
why I like it<\/h3>\n
craft<\/h3>\n