What is poetry?

I’m thinking we need to stand on our desks more.

About Patti Digh

Patti Digh is an author, speaker, and educator who builds learning communities and gets to the heart of difficult topics. Her work over the last three decades has focused on diversity, inclusion, social justice, and living and working mindfully. She has developed diversity strategies and educational programming for major nonprofit and corporate organizations and has been a featured speaker at many national and international conferences.

5 comments to " What is poetry? "
  • no matter how many times i see this scene, it always makes me cry. “stand on our desks” more? absolutely!

  • Becky

    I’m with Suzanne! I always love this part. I hope everyone has someone or something they believe enough in to do this kind of a thing.

    *Stands on coffee table* (That’s as close as I have to a desk, sorry.)

  • Valerie

    Dear Patti,
    This scene kind of reminds me of a poem that a friend shared with me once, a poem by Rumi:

    Two Kinds of Intelligence

    There are two kinds of intelligence: one acquired,
    as a child in school memorizes facts and concepts
    from books and from what the teacher says,
    collecting information from the traditional sciences
    as well as from the new sciences.

    With such intelligence you rise in the world.
    You get ranked ahead or behind others
    in regard to your competence in retaining
    information. You stroll with this intelligence
    in and out of fields of knowledge, getting always more
    marks on your preserving tablets.

    There is another kind of tablet, one
    already completed and preserved inside you.
    A spring overflowing its springbox. A freshness
    in the center of the chest. This other intelligence
    does not turn yellow or stagnate. It’s fluid,
    and it doesn’t move from outside to inside
    through conduits of plumbing-learning.

    This second knowing is a fountainhead
    from within you, moving out.

  • Can I get an “amen”?

    In other news, as if being thrilled with the book isn’t enough, you’ve dipped a toe into the Twitterverse! W00t!

    I’ve put together some notes for Twitter Newbies, in case that’s of use: http://butwait.pbwiki.com/Twitter-Newbies-FAQ

    Thank you for celebrating poetry, both written and lived.

  • By far one of the top 10 scenes in a movie. Always moves me.

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