What does this running cost our lives?

Today I found myself skimming the blog entry of a poet.

The problem with skimming poetry...

Well, the problem with skimming poetry is the problem of living as if everything matters so much that nothing matters.  Our precious time (no time no time no time!) matters so much that we spend it flipping through, glancing, checking in.  Life blurs.  We miss it.

I'm doing everything and missing it all.

Maybe you are, too.

The problem with skimming poetry is that you cannot hear the sound of the words in your head, cannot allow images to form, cannot linger long enough for the intricacies of meaning and association to connect and fall into place.

So for you, just one line.  If you like, let time stop, let your shoulders drop, and let yourself follow it wherever it takes you.  You have time.

The old steps live only in me:  my feet and thighs remember them, and my hands feel their splinters.

~ from A Time Past, by Denise Levertov

Another good way to linger is by listening to people play acoustic music in a room with twinkly lights.  I'm looking forward to being a part of that tonight at the Cafe at the Armory in Somerville.  Hope to see you there, and please join us at Highland Kitchen after!