Poetry Afternoon

At first I was reading poetry, looking for inspiration for the title of a book that my class is collaborating on. Then I was just mesmerized by the pages of beautiful ideas and I lay back and read. Here is one poem I want to share that is especially beautiful.

I started again; where everything starts:
at the body. Classes in life-drawing,
training my hand to see.

In Paris alone,
my family waiting for me to give up
so I could go back to being "happy."

Every day, failure boiled up into my throat
and stayed there.

.

Obsession is the sacrifice of light
to the richness of submergence.
But love is separation,
the membrane of the orange dividing itself,
the surface of silver
that turns glass into a mirror.

There's failure in every choice.

Art emerged from silence;
silence, from one's place in the world.

~Anne Michaels from "Modersohn - Becker"