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Odes to Ordinary Things — by Gratefulness.org

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 5:38 pm
by Welles
The following is excerpted from "Odes to Ordinary Things", published by A Network for Grateful Living, 2017
Introduction

Some years ago a neighbor gave me a gift—a collection of “odes to common things” by Pablo Neruda. What I didn’t immediately realize was that she had given me, not just the gift of a book, but the gift of seeing “common” things with fresh and celebratory eyes. Neruda writes playfully and lovingly of lemons, salt, socks, a box of tea! And in doing so, he heightens our attention and appreciation for the everyday wonders which fill our days and lives. Odes (themselves miraculous) bring life, depth and wonder to all manner of things.

Inspired by this experience, we, at A Network for Grateful Living (gratefulness.org), extended an invitation to our community to submit odes to “ordinary things.” The response was happy and immediate. Our inbox steadily filled with poems celebrating weeds, streetlights, shoes and crickets. There were love letters to a blender bottle, an acorn, slippers, an iPad – even to the veins on the top of someone’s feet! This glimpse into joy elicited by simple things has been a true gift and we are grateful to each one of the authors who expressed their adoration in a buoyantly broad range of styles and focus.

In order to refine the collection for this publication, we called together a small group of authors, editors, and poets—all lovers of poetry. After much thoughtful consideration, along with discussion both playful and serious, the Grateful Ode Appreciation Team (GOAT)—in a process where the poets remained anonymous—selected the twelve odes you see here.

We hope that these odes to ordinary things enchant you, but, perhaps most importantly, we hope that they open your eyes, as ours have been opened, to the myriad wonders that surround us, waiting to be seen and celebrated.

Saoirse McClory
This is a wonderful, short collection of poetry.

Odes to Ordinary Things — by Gratefulness.org

https://gratefulness.org/content/upload ... ss-org.pdf

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Re: Odes to Ordinary Things — by Gratefulness.org

Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 12:57 pm
by Sandy
:lol: I am so enjoying this! Thank you Welles. I'll go to bed with a big ole smile on my face tonight and will never look at my toothbrush the same way again.
:loves
Sandy