Love after Love: A memory

Derek Walcott

It’s the beginning of the month, which means it’s time for a new Memory, the side of Poetry & Process where we come together to memorize poetry. We conduct this practice to engrain words of meaning into our minds, bodies and beings that will serve as a companion during our walk through life. While each life is unique, the situations we encounter and the emotions we face have been felt by many who have walked before us. Poems we know deeply can speak what we need to hear at the most opportune times.

All Poetry & Process subscribers have access to all newsletters, including Memory. The thread in the chat function is for the Memory Community, a group of subscribers who financially support Poetry & Process. To join us, use the link below for a free season (3 months).

May you recognize the stranger at your door…

-Brian

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For September, we turn our attention to a poem calling us to return to one who we may have forgotten…

Photo by Annie Spratt

Love after Love by Derek Walcott

Spoken:

Text:

The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread, Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

Video:

The Poet:

If you are interested in Derek Walcott’s biography, check out this summary on Poetry Foundation.

Chat:

This is the point in our memorization process where we move the conversation to a Thread in the Chat function in the SubStack app/website. The text of the poem is posted there for paid subscribers to read and come back to. Check in today and throughout the week to hear how others in this community are memorizing the poem, the impact it is having on their week, and to discuss the themes in the poem.

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Make this experience your own, choosing how you approach the poem’s content, your memorization process, and connect with us in the chat!

I look forward to our conversation!

Brian

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