This collection of poetry calm my nerves nerves
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I tend to stop the long, dark hole of uncertainty in the anxious spaces of my mind. You may know this experience, which is a real drag and suction of a person’s quality of life. Over time, and together with therapy, I found some tested and true coping mechanisms that work for me – creative writing, exercise, reading at night until I’m too tired to lie awake, exceeding everything, meaningless television. The challenge is to find something that I can turn to quickly – to say when I am in the middle of my work day – some way to turn my attention elsewhere and to break the spiral – and I believe I have hit it. The exercise for reading a certain type of poetry (which I now keep on my desk) soothes my problem soul while offering a positive distraction and this is the collection that initiates my new practice.
The Magpie at night: Li Kingjo’s full poems (1084-1151) translated by Wendy Chen
Not that I have never read poetry as the poems I found in Magic at nightS In fact, knowing the collection may be what made me turn the pages, at least initially. I found it soothing when I find the poems of Emily Dickinson the soothing, more specially the summons of nature for Romanian. When I read about plum flowers, dried red petals or “autumn sadness” in Li Kingjo’s poems, she is in a muted tones like a warm breeze through a quiet lake.
There is a great tradition of writers like Dickinson and Tsingo – Marie Oliver too – who make the practice of reading poetry in meditation, and the shortness and simplicity of Zinjao’s poetry makes this practice accessible to a pleet like me, whose purpose is not to reward deep meaning from oysters, but to let the words go. And while the poems were obviously written so long ago, they are so internal -looking that they do not require you to have a very historical context before you start reading. This said it was always a great practice to learn about the author and their time, because context could provide a useful perspective on the work, and Li Kingjo was a captivating and innovative writer who was worth acquainting.
I didn’t know what to expect with this collection and I certainly did not predict that it would be a balm in problematic times, but as it turned out, the bright images of Li Kingjo were transporting me from my troubles, lifting me out of the Delrumi and gave me something beautiful so I could continue.
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