THE POETS
Words and the images, associations, feelings and emotions they conjure are the impulse for my creative work. I’m attracted to gestures, rhythm and rhyme, turns of phrase and evocative words. Something in one poem distinguishes it from another and separates those that are best read from others that have a certain music in them. It’s not always definable for me. Some poems just sing.
I am drawn to a wide variety of texts that express our shared human experience and emotive life. Some are challenging, some tender and comforting, some quirky. They often have a spiritual or sacred quality, though usually not specific to one religious tradition. Above all, they have a certain resonance for me and, hopefully, for those that sing and hear them.
Early Poets
Anonymous: The Shepherd’s Carol
Anonymous c. 1500: Sir Christemas
William Austin (1587-1634): Chauntecleere
John Davies (1569-1626): Psalm 150
John Donne (1572-1631): Three Sonnets of John Donne (Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God; A Hymn to God the Father; At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners)
William Dunbar (1460 - 1520?): Sing, Hevin Imperial
George Herbert (1593-1633): Shall I Silent Be
Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300-1377): The Music Sings in Them
Andrew Marvel (1621-1679): Musicks Empire
Thomas Traherne (1637-1674): Welcome All Wonders
Classic Poets
William Blake (1757-1827): A Song For Every Child; Laughing Song
Lewis Carroll (1832-1898): Jabberwocky
John Clare (1793-1864:) Song’s Eternity
Joseph Freiherr von Eichendrorff (1788-1857): A Living Song
Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894): Sweet Are the Lips Of All That Sing; Grace
John Newton (1725-1807): Amazing Grace
Arthur O'Shaugnessy (1844-1881): We Are the Music Makers
Bessie Rayner Parkes (1829-1925): Sweet Melody
James Gates Percival (1795-1856): Earthsongs
Christina Rossetti (1830-1894): In the Bleak Midwinter
Ryokan (1758-1831): Snowfall
Percy Bysshe Shelly (1792-1822): Radiant Sister of the Day
Christopher Smart (1722-1771): Spiritual Musick; Hallelujah from the Heart of God
Walt Whitman (1819-1892): Song of the Open Road; Grand is the Seen, The Unknown Region
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939): The Lake Isle of Innisfree; Blest By Everything
20th Century and Contemporary Poets
Edward Abbey (1927-1989): Benedicto
Margaret Atwood (b. 1939): You Begin
Stacy Barton: Music Came and Startled Me
Wendell Berry (b. 1934): The Circles of Our Lives; The Wheel; We Clasp the Hands; A Timbered Choir; The Peace of Wild Things, A Music in the Air
Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979): I Am In Need Of Music
James Broughton (1913-1999): This Magicker; Brothers of the Singing Void; This is It!
Sandra Chapman: After the Fire
e .e. cummings (1894-1962): sun, moon, stars rain; i carry your heart; i thank you god for most this amazing
Louise Driscoll (1875-1957): Hold Fast Your Dreams
Mike Harding (b. 1944): Cloth of Glory, Green Man
Langston Hughes (1902-1967): I Dream a World
Janet Lewis (1899-1998): Christmastide
Scott P. Lounsbury: Voice of Our Song; Well Sung Song; E Pluribus Cantus; Brainstorm, Future Dream; Phoenix Song; HandSpeak; Miraculous; Chanton, mes AMIS
John Gillespie Magee, Jr. (1922 - 1941): High Flight
John Masefield (1878-1967): Sea-Fever
David McCord (1897-1997): To Be Young
Bob McCormick: Then, Now, Forever
Pablo Neruda (1904-1973): Ode to the Present and Future Days
Jack Prelutsky (b. 1940): Toucans Two
Laura Richards (1850-1943): Eletelephony; Mrs. Snipkin and Mrs. Wobblechin
Elisavietta Ritchie (b. 1932): For A Certain Artist
Nanao Sakaki (1923 - 2008): Just Enough
Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967): The Singing Will Never Be Done
Ruth Sawyer (1880-1970): On Christmas Morn
Heaney Seamus (b. 1939): Rainstick
Stephen Spender (1909-1995): Born of the Sun
Kazuaki Tanahashi (b. 1933): Again, again...
Macrina Wiederkehr: Star Giver
Bill Worrell: A Song to End All War; Painted Memories; If I Could Fly; Then, Now, Forever
Ann Ziety: Daring to Be
Young Poets
Kenzie Duffie: Home
Emily Claire Forsythe: Winter Changes
Spiritual Texts from World Sacred Traditions
Bahai texts: House Blessing
Biblical texts: Psalm of Praise; The Lord is a Great God
Buddhist texts: Simple Boat; Earthsongs
St. Francis of Assisi (1181/82-1226): Sir Brother Sun
Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931): O Music
Hunger Fund Committee, Diocese of Huron: All Thy Gifts of Love
Mirabai (c.1498-c.1547CE): All I Was Doing Was Breathing; Don't Go!; Mira Has Finished With Waiting
Jewish Prayer: A Divine Voice Sings Through All Creation
Daniel Ladinsky: Isn’t That Something?
Sacred Latin texts: Cantate Domino; Jubilate Deo; O Aula Nobilis; O Magnum Mysterium; Pater Noster
Rumi (1207-1273): Blessed By Light, Everything is Music
Shaker Song: Simple Gifts
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941): My Song; When Thou Commandest Me To Sing, Blessed By Light
Thomas H. Troeger: Songs of Faith
United National Environmental Sabbath Program: Earthsongs
Charles Wesley (1708-1788): The Music Sings in Them
The Words of Native Peoples
Chief Dan George: My Heart Soars
High Eagle, Osage/Cherokee Tribes: I See the Universe
Joy Harjo: Eagle Poem
Stephen C. Jett: Song of the Earth Spirit
Northwest Canadian Coastal People: A Living Song
Leo Platero (Navajo): In the Beauty Way
Chief Seattle: This We Know
Sioux: Grandfather, Great Spirit
Latin American Poets
late 15th c. after Nezahualcuyotl, Nahuatl, Texcoco: The Painted Book
Pablo Neruda (1904-1973): Ode to the Present and Future Days
Amado Nervo (1870-1919): Solidaridad
Jackeline Rago: Yo le Canto Todo el Dia
Traditional Carols and Spirituals
Alma Bazel Androzzo (1912-2001): If I Can Help Somebody
Phillip Brooks (1835-1893): O Little Town of Bethlehem
Adger M. Pace (1882-1959): Beautiful Star of Bethlehem
Traditional Spiritual: Who Built the Ark?
Traditional Spiritual: Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
Bahamian Spiritual: All My Trials
Traditional Spiritual: The Friendly Beasts
Traditional Austrian: Still, Still, Still
Folk Music
Southern Gals: The Homespun Dress; Prettiest Little Gal in the County, O; Sourwood Mountain; The Black Mustache; When I Was a Young Girl; The Paw Paw Patch
Patriotic Texts
Katherine Lee Bates (1859-1929): For Spacious Skies
Francis Scott Key (1779-1843): Star Spangled Banner
Samuel Francis Smith (1808-1895): Of Thee I Sing
