Poem for the new year

Another delightful side effect from our yoga session yesterday was that one of the students asked me about the poems I had been reading at the end of each session. She was curious to know if the yoga classes I take end with poetry (they do not). She also asked “Will you read us a poem?” My reply was that I hadn’t been sure they (the kids) liked having poetry read to them, and to my delight, not only did she say she enjoyed the poems, but she and a few others began talking about one of the early poems (Toe Eyes) I had read in December.

Talk about a revelation!

Always at the ready, I immediately popped out Aristotle and read the opening eight lines of what is a much longer poem by Billy Collins.

opening lines of ARISTOTLE by Billy Collins

This is the beginning.
Almost anything can happen.
This is where you find
the creation of light, a fish wriggling onto land,
the first word of Paradise Lost on an empty page.
Think of an egg, the letter A,
a woman ironing on a bare stage as the heavy curtain rises.
This is the very beginning.