Vox Populi
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Stuart Kestenbaum: Prayer for Joy
Joy
The asters shake from stem to flower
waiting for the monarchs to alight.
Every butterfly knows that the end
is different from the beginning
and that it is always a part
of a longer story, in which we are always
transformed. When it’s time to fly,
you know how, just the way you knew
how to breathe, just the way the air
knew to find its way into your lungs,
the way the geese know when to depart,
the way their wings know how to
speak to the wind, a partnership of feather
and glide, lifting into the blue dream.
~~
Prayer for Joy
What was it we wanted
to say anyhow, like today
when there were all the letters
in my alphabet soup and suddenly
the ‘j’ rises to the surface.
The ‘j’, a letter that might be
great for Scrabble, but not really
used for much else, unless
we need to jump for joy,
and then all of a sudden
it’s there and ready to
help us soar and to open up
our hearts at the same time,
this simple line with a curved bottom,
an upside down cane that helps
us walk in a new way into this
forest of language, where all the letters
are beginning to speak,
finding each other in just
the right combination
to be understood.
~~
~~
“Joy” ©2019 from How to Start Over, (Deerbrook Editions, 2019). Included in Vox Populi by permission of Stuart Kestenbaum.
“Prayer for Joy” ©2014 from Only Now, (Deerbrook Editions, 2014). Included in Vox Populi by permission of Stuart Kestenbaum.
Stuart Kestenbaum is the author of six collections of poems, most recently Things Seemed to Be Breaking (Deerbrook Editions 2021), and a collection of essays The View from Here (Brynmorgen Press). He, along with his wife visual artist Susan Webster, published A Quiet Book (Brynmorgen Press 2024), a collection of collages and improvised handwritten text.
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Ah! Two delightful poems ❤️ As Brother David Steindl-Rast said, “Joy is the happiness that doesn’t depend on what happens.”
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beautiful!
Michael Simms Publisher/Vox Populi Founder/Autumn House Press Author/Jubal Rising (poems) https://www.amazon.com/Jubal-Rising-Poems-Michael-SIMMs/dp/1933974605/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3MEL16TIR70K5&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ahAxVwLB5mIH5JhF9jRTa_mDxqX6ZZG6ZDGzKat3pYs.ymFSPjeQy8RI-sF3bkTdiFIbXyVEHiQXE8k0nVlRx4Q&dib_tag=se&keywords=Jubal+Rising+by+Michael+Simms&qid=1751055046&s=books&sprefix=jubal+rising+by+michael+simms%2Cstripbooks%2C56&sr=1-1 Author/Nightjar (poems) Author/American Ash (poems) Author/Strange Meadowlark (poems) https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/strange-meadowlark-michael-simms/1143600725?ean=9781933974538&fbclid=IwAR1XYpwzY8Hjq7SIbYsdVXSxC1i38_40sCA7mcenKvaSLxxwxu72tEdQ5FQ Author/Bicycles of the Gods: A Divine Comedy (novel) Author/The Green Mage (novel) https://madvillepublishing.com/product/green-mage/ Author/Windkeep (novel) https://madvillepublishing.com/product/windkeep/ Author/The Blessed Isle (novel) https://madvillepublishing.com/product/the-blessed-isle/
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These poems gave me a bounce in my step. ‘J’ for bounce 🙂
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J for jubilation!
>
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These poems lifted me, and I especially love the j, its very appearance, “the curved bottom,/ the upside down cane….” May these poems about joy help lead us, sometimes stumbling but for our canes, to a joyous year. Thank you Stuart Ketsenbaum and Michael.
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I’m sorry for the typo on Stuart’s name!
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Thanks, Mary!
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Great poems to start a year of joy and hope.
The partnership of feather and glide. Nothing says winged joy better. Birds, moths, butterflies, and their various friends, are the true sky gods.
Jubilation of the letter J. I know that letter well. There’s seldom a jinx to it.
Jim
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Jubilation of the letter J. What a great phrase!
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So many wishes for the new year. These are perfect. This rain will bring the asters and hope for humans to get their lives together. And oh the letter J! Thank you. 🙏
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Thanks, Laure-Anne. Stuart is new to VP. I’m glad to have him on board.
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forgive my typo. It’s Kestenbaum.
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I love these two odes to Joy — how beautifully Stuart Ketsenbaum writes:
“the way the geese know when to depart,
the way their wings know how to
speak to the wind,”
and that little letter “j”,
“ready to
help us soar and to open up
our hearts at the same time,
this simple line with a curved bottom,
an upside down cane that helps
us walk in a new way into this
forest of language, “
a perfect pair of poems to start the year…
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