I am bringing back a Poetry Workshop blog from April 9, 2016, on “How to Be a Poet by Wendell Berry. Here it is, mostly as it was originally posted in https://litchatte.com/poetry
Poet, novelist and environmentalist Wendell Berry was born in 1934. He lives on a farm in Port Royal, Kentucky near his birthplace, He is the author of over 40 books of poetry, fiction, and essays. His poetry celebrates the holiness of life and everyday miracles often taken for granted. “He is a master of many literary genres, but whether he is writing poetry, fiction, or essays, his message is essentially the same: humans must learn to live in harmony with the natural rhythms of the earth or perish.” Critics have written that Berry’s poems return us to the “clarity of purpose” and “simplicity” of William Wordsworth, Robert Frost, and John Clare. Passages of his poems convey the “sound of chopping in a murmurous forest, to lines of power, and memorable resonance. Many of Mr. Berry’s poems are as fine as any written in our time.” *
Wendell Berry provides a gift to writers who are striving to find inspirations to improve in“How To Be a Poet.”
(to remind myself)
i
Make a place to sit down.
Sit down. Be quiet.
You must depend upon
affection, reading, knowledge,
skill—more of each
then you have—inspiration,
work, growing older, patience,
for patience joins time
to eternity. Any readers
who like your poems,
doubt their judgment.
ii
Breathe with unconditional breath
the unconditioned air.
Shun electric wire.
Communicate slowly. Live
a three-dimensioned life;
stay away from screens.
Stay away from anything
that obscures the place it is in.
There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.
iii
Accept what comes from silence.
Make the best you can of it.
Of the little words that come
out of the silence, like prayers
prayed back to the one who prays,
make a poem that does not disturb
the silence from which it came.
*Bio summarized from information on www.poetryfoundation.org
For more information on Berry, visit http://www.wendellberrybooks.com
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Dr. Murray Ellison received a Master’s in Education from Temple University (1973), a Master’s Degree of Arts in English Literature from Virginia Commonwealth University (2015), and a Doctorate in Education at Virginia Tech (1988). He is married and has three adult daughters and a new grand-daughter! He ‘retired’ as the Virginia Director of Community Corrections for the Department of Correctional Education in 2009. Included in his ‘after-retirement activities,’ he was the founder and chief editor of this literary blog (which is still active) and he is an editor for the International Correctional Education Journal. He is the Co-Editor of the 2016 book of poetry, Mystic Verses, by Acharya Shambhushivananda, and is an Editor for The First Mennonite Church of Richmond’s Newsletter. He serves as a board member and volunteer tour guide for the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond Virginia. Mainly, however, for the last several years, he has taught literature classes for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Richmond and, effective August 2018, he has started teaching English Writing & Research Classes at the Richard Bland College of William & Mary University. Finally, in his ‘spare time,’ he tutors two school youth, does occasional professional editing and coördinates both The Midlothian, Virginia, Classic Book Club and the VCU Working Titles Book Club. Contact Murray at ellisonms2@vcu.edu, or leave a note at the bottom of the post.
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