My wife told me to read this book called “Where the Crawdads Sing.” At first I rolled my eyes, thinking, oh not another Oprah Club Book! I decided to give it a shot. Since I was flying on a lot of planes this week, I finished the book in four plane flights. I did not cry, but came close, the book has some touching moments for sure. The author, Delia Owens, had a way of writing that was very good at painting a picture and I found myself submerged in a bayou marsh of the Carolina coast line.
No spoiler alert here, the reason I bring this up is that the author weaves a subtle weave of poetry throughout the story. This is very clever, and you will have to read the story to understand why. However, the poetry in the book reminded me of something that I forgot.
“poetry makes you feel something”
I was a closet poet growing up. I had this flair for writing small snippets, I never got very far with the concept but I always had this ability to express a certain feeling in a choice of words. I think it was because of my Father, who would recite poetry, or famous quotes occasionally and due to that I was open to the concept of poetry as a vehicle of expression.
This evening when I got home, my wife showed me a poem that my daughter wrote. The poem was amazing, referencing where she came from. It was full of emotion, wit and a drop of sarcasm. It reminded me of my love of poetry growing up.
I then realized that I have not had a lot of poetry in my life. No stop and smell the flowers going on with me. Always worried about where I am going and where I came from – only on the rare moment stopping to appreciate what is right in front of me. In my zeal to improve, too drive success in what I want to accomplish, I have forgotten a very important aspect of living a life well – and that is to feel now and then, appreciate beauty, know what it is to love.
So I am now on a slightly new path. I am going to start discovering and finding awesome poems. I plan to create a book of the poems that inspired me to feel something and why. Page 1 – My Daughters Poem. Perhaps by learning to feel again, I can really appreciate the commitments that I have made. The ability to live a long and healthy life will now be worth so much more.
Guy Reams
