“Poetry is like a bird, it ignores all frontiers.”
Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Soviet/Russian poet, novelist, actor & director
Why bother with poetry?
In a world hell-bent on filling space with activity and silence with noise; on seducing us into image consciousness and productivity, it’s a subversive act to pause for poetry. Here’s a short list as to why folks may pause to read and/or write poetry:
It’s a doorway that takes us into imaginal space (not the imaginary), like music, imagination, dreams, all the arts. Poetry can evoke laughter, tears, cheers, wonderment, reflection and shifts in perspective.
For me, poetry is a source of visceral pleasure. It jolts and startles me in all the right ways. Poetry helps me come home to myself, again and again, in the middle of my busy life. May it be so for you, too.
Image: Paul Cezanne, Still life, pitcher and fruit
February 2026 ~ Why plague your heart with indecision?
The intelligence Rumi speaks of is Heart-centered, intuitive and innate.
The great Unifier requires no study and applies to us and every species on the planet.
When up against we’rethe limits of the mind’s logic and control, bewilderment unfurls
and a deeper intelligence takes over: Love. Everyone now: Don your royal crown
and jewel the world with that diamond-bright vibrance you were born with.
May this Supreme Intelligence guide our actions in the world. xo
[Why plague your heart with indecision?]
Why plague your heart with indecision?
Your heart is your pulpit and throne.
Don’t step down.
Intelligence is your crown.
Only gems drawn from the depths of you
can adorn this crown.
Gather them.
By Rumi from Gold; versions by Haleh Liza Gafori
Copyrighted; for inspirational purposes only.
Check out my giant archive of poems.
January 2026 ~ A Coney Island of the Mind, 13
Happy New Year! There were a billion amazing contenders to kick off 2026. Yet this poem
so lit me up, flooded me with such a surge of YES, I know it had to lead the way.
May you delight in Ferlinghetti’s fertile feats of creative imagination and word wizardry.
Let us bow to the wondrous fountains of imagination that live within us all. Vive l’imagination!
A Coney Island in the Mind, 13
Not like Dante
discovering a commedia
upon the slopes of heaven
I would paint a different kind
of Paradiso
in which the people would be naked
as they always are
in scenes like that
because it is supposed to be
a painting of their souls
but there would be no anxious angels telling them
how heaven is
the perfect picture of
a monarchy
and there would be no fires burning
in the hellish holes below
in which I might have stepped
nor any altars in the sky except
fountains of imagination
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, from A Coney Island of the Mind. This is how the poem appears on the page.
Copyrighted material; for inspirational purposes only.
Dante Alighieri wrote his epic, narrative poem, The Divine Comedy, in the 14th C. Check it out!
And check out the POTM archive!
Image credit: Magic Fish, 1925 Surrealist painting by Paul Klee.
December 2025 – Astonishment
Friend, this poem is for you. Read it, and consider its question:
Then why have we kept up the singing for so long?
Given the line before that one – Our time seems to be up—I think I even hear it stopping – you may wonder, does he ask from despair? I think not. I think it’s born of an incredulous recognition. Not “I,” but “we” are here to share, not hoard our epiphanies. Or our lives. Convincing as the trick may be, in truth, we are all porous creatures, not singular selves. This, I believe, is what our poet points to – the awareness that lines of divison are false. The Heart knows: There is no dividing line between us, even as each being arrives with its unique expression. My friend, may the season’s gifts surprise you. May you embody loving generosity. May it be so.
Astonishment
There is a silence in the beginning.
The life within us grows quiet.
There is little fear. No matter
how all this comes out, from now on
it cannot not exist ever again.
*
The present pushes back the life of regret.
It draws forward the life of desire. Soon memory
will have started sticking itself all over us.
We were fashioned from clay in a hurry,
poor throwing may mean it didn’t matter
to the makers if their pots cracked.
*
On the mountain tonight the full moon
faces the full sun. Now could be the moment
when we fall apart or we become whole.
Our time seems to be up—I think I even hear it stopping
Then why have we kept up the singing for so long?
Because that’s the sort of determined creature we are.
Before us, our first task is to astonish,
and then, harder by far, to be astonished.
We come to be astonished. To be reminded that the world—this life—is still full
of astonishing things: unexplainable acts of goodness, stunning beauty,
impossible hope.
We come because we need—every one of us—to fall to our knees from time to
time, in wonder. In awe.
By Galway Kinnell, from Collected Poems
Copyrighted; for inspiration purposes only.
Image credit: Love Rising, painting by Steven DaLuz.
Find archived poems from 2006 – present here: clearlenscoaching.com/poetry/
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Down the hatch!
“and nothing can harm you –
unless you change yourself
into a thing of harm
nothing can harm you.”
Carl Sandburg
TESTIMONIALS
“Krayna oozes creativity in the Poetry Playshops she leads, creating an innovative environment that is non-judgemental. So I feel completely safe and free to let loose my own creative juices. I always look forward to the next Playshop!”
Jean Harkin
TESTIMONIALS
“I was looking for a creative experience completely outside my usual practice of making visual, two-dimensional art. The Poetry Playshop I first attended instantly felt like a relaxed environment, strengthening my ability to hear my own voice. I allowed words and stories to rise to the surface in a simple and non-judgmental way. Witnessing others speak freely jostles things loose for my own creativity. I experience shifts after attending a Poetry Playshop. The untangling of conflicted thoughts and feelings often occurs. I believe this is so because I experience unguarded creativity in the presence of others. This deepens my understanding that we all have stories and sharing them is an integral part of our common humanity.”
Patricia Freeman Martin
TESTIMONIALS
“The Playshop experience is a beautiful balance of inspiration, structure and warmth. Thankfully, the space is safe for words to flow and without pressure to share. Krayna’s writing prompts are full of creativity and the poems participants do share are always a gift.”
– Mary Marquiss