April is National Poetry Month in Canada, and I was reminded of this when I gathered with Alumnae and past staff for our final virtual Alumnae Book Club of the year. Our theme this year has been âBooks that make you proud to be Canadianâ; during our final gathering, I was grateful to Alumna Lucy Farcnik â19 who reminded me of how much I love poetry. After she had shared her chosen book of poetry, I made a note to take some time this weekend to read a new book.
I love poetry because it challenges me to reflect and marvel at othersâ mastery of words in creating meaning. Depending on the day, time, or circumstances, poetry can reveal different messages.
A poet I enjoy, Tyler Knott Gregson, just released a new compilation of entitled Illumination: Poetry to Light Up the Darkness. This new book intrigued me for, what I hope, are obvious reasons. As I read through his wonderful poems, I was struck by this one:
Sometimes you gotta leap, take a jump into the unknown
and hope for the best. Sometimes youâve been perched
so long you forget about your wings, forget the songs you were handed
down, the songs you once sang. Sometimes youâre stuck and frozen
in fear and worry and the weight of what if.
Sometimes it takes one breeze of a push to remind you,
To stretch out those wings, to hum those notes again.
-Tyler Knott Gregson
This weekend was a time for reflection. My family celebrates Easter, an important time in the Christian calendar. Easter is a reminder that it is often through darkness that we come to light; it is in believing this that we can move forward.
We have been through darkness and we have some significant dark times ahead. I also know that many have become perched with fear and it seems that this is our new reality. Yet as I read Tyler Knott Gregsonâs poem this Easter weekend, I feel hope that we will all be touched by the breeze of a push, we will be able to stretch our wings, and we will hum again.
