Is there a moment for poetry in your life?

My days begin simply. A cup of coffee with my long-suffering wife of 34 years, as we catch up on the morning news.

At some point, I glance through the office- and private-email feeds on my mobile device, just enough to ensure that my world can manage without me until I’ve had breakfast. 

“I consider myself a poet first and a musician second. I live like a poet and I'll die like a poet.” — Bob Dylan

Since my company RES was acquired in early July by Ivanti, I’ve been working through a transitional assignment to support my team from the former company RES as they integrate into new roles in a much larger Ivanti. I’m doing what I can to make this work as smoothly as we can manage – duties I’ve been fulfilling almost exclusively from my home office.

Breakfast is small and perhaps 10 minutes of time, during which I fire up the computer and open my apps.

“Poets aren't very useful. / Because they aren't consumeful or very produceful.” — Ogden Nash

But as I take the first serious look at my inbox, always near the top is my Poem-A-Day, a free service of www.poets.org that faithfully transmits a new poem to my inbox each day. Some days are familiar, with classic poets such as Wordsworth, Frost, Langston Hughes. But many – certainly most – are from currently active artists whose work is new to me.

Such was the case this Thursday as I was greeted by ..

Thursday by James Longenbach

I begin each day with things familiar and new. Enjoy life, and those you love. And read poetry. And maybe one step more…

“Well, write poetry, for God’s sake, it’s the only thing that matters” — e. e. cummings