Sunday, August 22, 2010

Our of our contradictions

My friend Maureen, over at Writing without Paper, shares a quote from poet Stanley Kunitz.

Out of our contradictions we build our harmonies.
~ Stanley Kunitz

From Maureen's blog I went on a journey into the world of Mr. Kunitz, who died in 2006 at the age of 101. At the age of 95 he became US Poet Laureate for the second time in his life.

I listened to his reading of The Long Boat on the occasion of his 100th birthday and I was in awe.

Gift yourself some awe today and have a listen.

Have a read over at Maureen's, Thought for the Day and click on the many links she's provided.

Immerse yourself in poetic words through the voice of a man who lived an entire century and never lost his sense of wonder.

I remember reading Stanley Kunitz many years ago. What I read enthralled me, and yet, I let go of my enjoyment as I forgot about his magical words and carried on my journey, letting poetry fall by the wayside as i struggled to find the harmony in my life.

Out of our contradictions we build our harmonies...

So true.

In The Testing-Tree, he writes towards the end of the poem, "In a murderous time, the heart breaks and breaks and lives by breaking."

A broken heart is an open heart and an open heart is a loving heart.

May all our hearts be open to the magic and the wonder of creating harmony in the contradictions of our lives. May we all live with hearts broken open in love.

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