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[goneahead]

Hi! I am goneahead and you haven't heard of me, because I just recently made the leap from Livejournal to Dreamwidth. I will be pinch hitting as your host this week.

I love poetry, and I've been reading and writing for my entire life. On the personal side of things, I am not yet in a place where I have the time to try to publish, so I only have one published poem. I do set a goal for myself each year, and this year my goal is to write 101 poems.

In case you are are curious about my published poem, I'll share it here:

Regarding Her Cancer

Last fall we ate oranges in her garden,
Even then the news was not good.
She had just painted
The walls
In her kitchen,
I had just bought a new stove.
We talked about paint chips,
And Maytag and Whirlpool
And GE.

Today, I stare at rows of cards.
Not one card smells of oranges.

This week, instead of focusing on my poetry, I want to dive into international poetry, so I will be following this post with three posts exploring different poets and poems around the world.

One of the main reasons I read world poetry is that I find looking at the world through the lens of a different culture gives me fresh perspective for my writing.

So I would like to kick this off with a question Has something you learned from another culture stuck with you? If so, what was it?

My answer to this question would be hugging. Somebody once told me that Americans hug "wrong". I asked her to explain, and she told me that in her culture, people always lean to the right when they hug, so they can hug "heart to heart." I never knew I was doing it "wrong", but I now make sure to do it right!

Comments

[alee_grrl]

Your poem is lovely and so heartbreaking. Thank you for sharing it.

I spent two years living in Jamaica and learned so many things that I have had a hard time selecting one to share. :) I think one of the things that I took most to heart while living there was the idea of "soon come." This is a phrase you hear all the time in Jamaica and it's meaning can vary from "ten minutes from now," to "hours from now," to "days from now," to "never." Coming from America, where we are used to instant gratification and waiting seems to have become a lost art, the concept of "soon come" reminded me to be patient and to be flexible. It taught me that waiting isn't a hardship and some of the best memories will be found while you are waiting for something else. It reminded me to slow down a bit. A very good lesson. :)

[goneahead]

ty - glad u liked it.

and wow, that sounds like a good lesson. Americans are always in such a rush, its good to remember to slow down a little and enjoy life a little more!

[alee_grrl]

It was a great lesson, though I get some odd reactions from my fellow Americans when I'm implementing it (and other lessons I took to heart from my experience abroad). Americans really do hurry to much. It took me about a year to readjust to life in the states after living in a much more laid back society.