Window sunrise: A memory

Brian Funke

It’s Sunday, which means it’s time for 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 unique walks 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.

---

Photo by Magnus Östberg on Unsplash

For the next two weeks, we turn our attention to a poem I recently published, one that explores a simple experience and the complexity of human conception…

Fire in the hearth
and peace in the room.

Gaze through the south facing window
pointed just east enough
to frame the entanglement of empty limbs
and newly risen sun
writing on lined paper clouds

gold not yet touching
the fresh inch of snow
but piercing the reach of trees
and living room glass
and every conception I have.

The dog curled by my side.

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. 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.

---

Resources

Spoken:

Text (formatted to fit a phone background):

---

Thank you for being here, and I’ll talk to you in the chat! I look forward to hearing about the spaces in your life that are impactful to your inner world.

Brian

---