I like to go to bookstores and wander the poetry section. Often, I will grab a random book of poetry hoping to find a gem. I hit the jackpot with Boris Novak's poetry, especially in this poem which could be dedicated to that special someone.

Borders

We gaze at the same full moon... horizons

far away, too far from each other. Mountains

rise between us. A soft, mossy crust

grows over our footsteps. All alone

you crossed all borders and came to a foreign country,

to the homeland of my arms. Dangerously alone

I crawl past the keepers of borders: I travel to the

Northwest, where I am bitterly ashamed

of the screeching of the soul among smooth, horrible walls.

I stand before them, a dark man from the Southeast,

with a conspicuous name, shuddering, as naked as prey.

I cannot escape. Border is destiny.

Now you know: although you cross the border, you don't erase it.

Rising even higher it will measure your steps, like doubt.

A map is not an illusion. So speak more softly.

Beyond all borders your lips are my home.

-Boris Novak

The Ultimate Pick Up Poem

Love’s Philosophy

Percy Bysshe Shelley

The fountains mingle with the river,
And the rivers with the ocean;
The winds of heaven mix forever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In another’s being mingle–
Why not I with thine?

See, the mountains kiss high heaven,
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister flower could be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea;–
What are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me?

Poetry Challenge 2

This time my class was working on a chain poem. More information on this activity can be found here. It is basically an exercise in free association and feeds into poetry.

You start with one object in the room. In our case, we started with "light." You then write the first thing that comes to your mind, which was "bright." Then you write the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of "bright" and so forth until you have 6-8 items. Our list was as follows:

Light
Bright
Flashes
Fast
Car
Wheels
Rims

You then add words to each side to make it into a poem. This is what I came up with.

Chain Poem #1

The light blinds when the
Bright thoughts enter
Flashes of contemplation
Destroying the fast energies of the world
A car is man made
And he created wheels
The rims a mere decor

Poetry Challenge

For one of my classes, I tore up scraps of paper and had students write topics on the paper. They then had to randomly choose a paper and write about the topic they chose in three stanzas with a set rhyme scheme. The students challenged me: You have to write one as well. So I did.

Nature

The soft rain falling
On the hot concrete
Steam rising
Making the scene complete

Soft tears fall
Mirroring the rain
My hopes are tall
How can I complain

When my soul is pure
and untainted by sin
Temptations lure
But I will win

Qabiltu

Qabiltu
by Abu Zayd USA
It began with a simple statement, qabiltu Your hand in mind, we left to start our new lives. The sun never shined as bright And the moon was never so full as it became when your life and mine became one. We never met, We never spoke, but we there was a feeling that my faulty tongue can never express in its own words - muwaddah. The stars spoke to us that night bringing life to the dark Earth bring life to your dark hearts and stand. Water splashed on my face the night we were wed, urging me to stand before the One who blessed us with one another, an answer to the implicit call of His creation, and the explicit call of His Majesty. Greetings of peace and love showered our home, glad tidings of the clock's hand approaching Maghrib, breaking the fast you asked me to join you in. For you it was never nafsi nafsi You taught me what it meant to love Him, though you may not know it. It was because of my love for you I realized how much I didn't Love Him. My life was incomplete without You My life will never be complete without Him. Qabiltu my heart connected with you Qabiltu when will my heart connect with Him ---------------------------------------- From Islamicpoetry.org

Allah

A few years ago, I traveled with some fellow classmates and our teacher to Gatlinburg, TN. We decided to go on one hike to the highest point in the Smoky Mountains called Clingman's Dome. Unfortuantely, we started off in exactly the wrong direction and began heading towards another very high point at the top of Mount Leconte.

Because I had planned out the hike, the distance, and the time it would take us, I was not worried that we got started a bit late at around 11am since we had plenty of time to finish this hike and return well before dark. However, since we were going the wrong direction, all of the calculations were off.

We reached the top of Mount Leconte around 6pm, prayed 'asr, and began heading back down. When we reached a small stream (the only source of water on the trail), it was already getting dark. This was only about one quarter of the way down. We made wudu' the stream and then hiked on a little ways until we found a flat place to pray maghrib.

By this time it was quite dark. We were in the middle of the mountains of Tennessee with only two flashlights and no signs of life around. The stars were bright and abundant. Our teacher began to lead us in maghrib. After Surah al-Fatihah, he read:

الله نور السماوات والارض
Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth (24:35).

and stopped. He paused for a long time (much longer than is permissible in salah), but we knew why he was pausing. We all began to cry deeply as these verses which talk about the Light of Allah gained new depth for us. Eventually he moved on to a different surah, but this memory sticks in my mind and forces me to read this portion from Surah al-Nur whenever I'm under the bright night sky.

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