“Sunday’s child is fair and wise and good and gay.” Your 2 Rules co-founders however, are both (technically) Tuesday’s children–full of grace, as the poem goes. We looked it up and everything.
Grace-filled or not, welcome to the Sunday Summary for the week of 27 March 2022-2 April 2022. We’ve kicked off our National Poetry Month celebration this week with 30 Days, 30 Poems. Each day we’re sharing a poem for you to read or listen to, along with a few thoughts about that poem. The poems have been chosen by 2 Rules readers and contributors along with Adam and Erika. Not because they’re famous poems (though many of them are) but because they’re poems loved by the people who have nominated them. If you love poetry… Or if you could never get into it… or if you are somewhere in between. Join us throughout the month of April to make poetry less scary, discover something new, and celebrate one of the world’s oldest art-forms.
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Monday
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“Hope is a four letter word. Sometimes it grates on me with its perkiness.”
As March draws to a close, Erika discusses the years theme for this year’s Women’s History Month: Hope and Healing. She explores the role of gender expectations in this year’s theme. People tend to think of hope and healing as connected to grace. To letting go. To forgiving. But Erika explores the importance and ongoing role of anger in hope and healing.
Wednesday
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“Poetry gave me freedom to begin to become the kind of writer I want to be.”
Time zones and power outages conspired to delay Adam’s latest letter from Bangalore, and so Erika and Adam decided a little premature poetry celebrating was in order. Revisit a few special poetry posts with them. You’ll find the story of how seven year old Erika fell in love with poetry and learned how to read it and write her own poems. There are also links to a post with an original poem from Adam. He writes about love and longing, and shares insight to his writing process. Also from Erika, discover a post with an original poem about mental health, along with insight on her writing process. It’s nice to see both Erika and Adam step away from essays for a moment and share some of their creative writing.
Thursday
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“-What did you talk about? Timepass.
-What did you do in the park? Timepass.
-What is your friend like? Very timepass.“
Thursday finally brought us Adam’s latest letter from Bangalore. This week, in a style reminiscent of David Foster Wallace, Adam takes us to some of the places he’s visited. He also explores some of the differences he’s experienced and shares some incredible photographs. This post is worth it even if you just look at the pictures.
Friday
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Adam: “I’ll say no more than this: when I want to make my students (and myself) cry, I show them “Cabuliwalla” (trans., “The Pedlar from Kabul”) by Rabindranath Tagore.”
Erika: “It’s evident in my search for words to describe what’s going on right now…
And wanting to find a way to describe that, and to preserve the peace and also the sensuality of that moment… of things being totally in rhythm with one another.”
In this week’s Watch/Listen/Read entry both Adam and Erika are very focused on what they’re reading. While there is a little talk about watching and listening, what you’ll find here is a Adam’s outsider’s guide to an introduction to the literature of India. You’ll also find Erika more involved than usual in the work of poetry as she prepares for the 30 Days, 30 Poems project. It’s a little bit of a deviation from the usual Watch/Listen/Read recommendations. Don’t fret–there are some suggestions you will definitely want to explore and some new ideas for how to look at them.
Saturday
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Big Cat knows that Human-Mom loves poetry. And she is especially interested in women-poets. It’s not his fault she doesn’t speak Cat.
Big Cat and Little Cat continued their discussion this week, and even Middle Cat got in on the discussion (and on Erika’s editing) this week. Their question this week combines thoughts of Women’s History Month and National Poetry Month. They might even introduce you to some poets whose voices you’re not familiar with. See what they’re asking and comment at the bottom to share some suggestions for who they might like to read.
Looking Ahead
The 2 Rules team is planning their usual content–new writing from Erika and from Adam, a new column from Huiwen Shi. Don’t forget Watch/Listen/Read and Caturday. The National Poetry Month celebration will, of course continue, too. Share your suggestions for poems to feature, answer the Caturday Question and send us your submissions! We can’t wait to share your work.
Concentration is prayer,
Poetry the private psalm
-Askold Melnyczuk “The Sunday Before Easter”
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Make sure you‘re all caught up with your favorite 2 Rules writers and features by checking out all of our Sunday Summary posts.