Monday, June 6, 2011

It's Monday! Go out and "rediscover the poet within..."

"I am not done with my changes."  ~ from "The Layers"
The most recent Human Values in Aging newsletter has a bit of poetry from Stanley Kunitz's "The Layers." Kunitz won many awards for his poetry and continued writing until his death at the age of 100. He was a mere 63 when he won the Pulitzer Prize for his work and became Poet Laureate at 95. In his 100th year, he published "The Wild Braid: A Poet Reflects on a Century in the Garden," a collection of poems, photographs and thoughts on gardening.

At the time of his death, the Washington Post shared this quote:
"Essentially," he once said, "what I try to do is to help each person rediscover the poet within himself. I say 'rediscover,' because I am convinced that it is a universal human attribute to want to play with words, to beat out rhythms, to fashion images, to tell a story, to construct forms."
Hear Kunitz read his own poetry, "Touch Me."



Happy Monday! Now go out and "rediscover the poet within"!
(Can't see the video? Go to Artful Aging and enjoy!)

AARP Office of Academic Affairs e-newsletter Human Values in Aging is "for those interested in humanities, ethics and aging." (You can subscribe for free here.)