Welcome back to Sunday Poetry, after my short hiatus.

Those of you who’ve been following along this past year know this blog began after I heard poet Billy Collins speak at Chautauqua Institution several years ago.  I was so impressed that I checked out the Library of Congress site he began, Poetry 180, which was created for high school students.  A poem a day to be pondered.  What a terrific way to encourage a love of poetry.

I discovered other sources of poetry (all with permission of the poets, the only kind I’ll link to) on the web and decided it would be fun for us to explore a poem a week together.  Not to analyze or dissect.  I think that’s the very reason some of us (myself included) learned to dislike poetry in the first place.   But to savor.  My only question is what phrase or idea might you take away with you for the remainder of the week?  Poetry as meditation.

Yesterday I had the delightful experience of hearing Mr. Collins again.  Twice, in fact.  Once in conversation with author/playwright Roger Rosenblatt at the Chautauqua Amphitheatre, the other as he read from his newest work, Horoscopes for the Dead.

Most delightful of all, after the reading, Mr. Collins signed copies, and now I have an autographed copy of Horoscopes for the Dead to give away.

Between now and December 31st, everybody who comments on any of my Sunday Poetry blogs will be eligible to win.  That’s all you need to do.  This giveaway is open to everyone, anywhere, and you may comment  each week for more opportunities to win.  Of course I reserve the right not to include comments that are inappropriate or irrelevant.  I will also delete responses that are identical to any that came before.  Just be original and tell us what you think about the poem of the day.  Random.org will do the rest.

I’m happy to say that the title poem of the collection is available here, at the PEN American Center website.  What line, word or thought will you carry with you this week? If you’d like to tell us where the poem took you? We’ll listen.