SESSION 27 — Poetry & Belonging

Photo by Alain Bonnardeaux on Unsplash‍ ‍

Discussion:

• The need to belong — to a place, a person, a community — is hardwired into the human psyche. Without a true sense of belonging we drift and wither, like a leaf plucked by the wind.

• What does Mary Oliver’s poem remind us about belonging?

• What techniques does she use to engender that feeling?

Mary Oliver was an American poet whose work focused on the quiet occurrences of nature. She was one of the most beloved poets of her time. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1984 for her collection American Primitive and the National Book Award for Poetry in 1992.

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Writing Prompt

• What feelings, memories or desires arise when you think about belonging?

• What price have you paid for it? When did you lose it? Where do you have it?

• Write a poem about the shape(s) belonging has taken in your life.

• You can use any format, structure or metaphor but aim for truth.