Interesting. cummings was Unitarian (in fact, his father was a Unitarian minister back in the days before the merger with the Universalists). The officiant at e. e. cummings funeral was the president of the UUA (he died just after the merger).

Source: http://uudb.org/articles/eecummings.html

We have one of his poems as a reading in our service book (I use it frequently because I love it dearly) and another set as a song.

On poetry in general, I love poetry almost more than prose. I have done two whole services of poetry readings at my UU fellowship (one on Love and one that started as a general poetry service but developed a theme almost incidentally as the other service leader and I chose our poems).

Favorite poets: Leonard Cohen, Horace, Shakespeare, Mary Oliver (also has UU connections, though not currently a UU as I understand it, and we had a whole service based off one of her poems recently).

I do not have any whole poems committed to memory at this point, just bits and snippets.

Mendalla

anyone lived in a pretty how town?

with up so floating many bells down.

Mendalla, 

I love. love. love that poem! Have loved it since studying it in grade 13. 

Ahh - so then Mendalla & P3 you share that love with Gary Paterson - that is a poem he recited on the programme - and I agree it certainly is wonderful.  He commented that he often uses it when asked, as preachers are often requested, to say grace at events.  That would be so much more moving than the usual we hear on such occasions!!

I'm not a poet, and don't usually gravitate to reading poetry - but when pointed in good directions, I find I do have an appreciation.  So thanks for posting that link to the words!  As for anything committed to memory - not mine. 

I found Gary's comments interesting in terms of preachers dealing in metaphor & language images ... which in reflection is very true - those I get from listening to, do make use of these.

We never studied cummings that I recall. I came across him later in life. In fact, what I remember of studying English poetry in high school is mostly older stuff (Donne, Spenser, Shakespeare, etc.).

Another favorite of mine is Walt Whitman. He tends to ramble on but what a ramble.

Mendalla

I do remember ee cummings from high school curriculum ... you must be too young Mendalla! 

But I do remember from grade school - "I think that I shall never see, a poem as lovely as a tree... "  and then there was the one about daffodils ... just a vague shadow memory!

Too young? That's not one I hear much anymore .

Mendalla

I love poetry. From school I remember the classics: Shelley, Keats, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Tennyson. I remember some lines from Xanadu. Not much committed to memory at the moment but I could if I brushed up on it. I remember reading Edgar Allan Poe. In first year Lit we studied song lyrics by Paul Simon and Bob Dylan, and maybe Leonard Cohen too (?)- and Joni Mitchell being one of my favourite 'musical' poets. The professor was trying to get us interested in learning poetry in non-conventional ways. I like the beat poets: Corso, Ferlinghetti, Ginsberg, and Kerouac- even though he's known for novels, his style is poetic. I write my own. I used to write much more- with all the practicalities of life, it's easy to get writers' block. I used to think I wanted to publish poetry. That's a daydream I haven't had for awhile. It's too bad- I think poetry is becoming under-appreciated- arts in general. Technical writers are more of a going concern. I'm glad people like Gary Paterson keep it alive and stoke the literary imagination, because I also think that's an important piece to theology and reading the bible.

I have a few English poems or parts of poems committed to memory: Shakespeare, T.S. Eliot, Whitman, Cohen, Moody Blues, and others. In German, I remember some poems by Goethe, Schiller, Hesse, Müller, Rilke, Rückert, and others.

I have conducted a total of eleven lay services at my previous congregation. At every one of those I quoted at least one poem.

Some books of the Bible, like Songs, Proverbs, and Psalms, are quite poetic. And I love the King James version of the Bible, not for its accuracy but for its poetic beauty.

Let us bring poetry back to the people:

Remove it from the hallowed halls,

Topple down the pedestals,

Tear down all Berlin Walls!

-Arminius

Here is one of my German favourites:

DER WISSENDE

Wer einmal, frei vom großen Wahn,

Ins leere Aug der Sphinx geblickt,

Vergißt den Ernst des Irdischen,

Aus Überernst, uns lächelt nur.

Ein Spiel bedüngt ihn nun die Welt,

Ein Spiel er selbst, und all sein Tun.

Wohl läßt er's nicht, und führt es fort,

Und treibt es stolz, und zart, und kühn,

Doch lüftet ihr die Maske ihm,

Er blickt euch an, und lächelt nur.

Wer einmal, frei vom großen Wahn,

In's leere Aug' der Sphinx geblickt,

Verachtet stumm der Erde Leid,

Der Erde Freud', und lächelt nur.

-Christian Morgenstern

(THE KNOWER

Once you have, free from the grand illusion,

Looked into the empty eye of the Sphinx,

You forget life's seriousness,

Become over-serious, and only smile.

The world, to you, becomes a play,

A play yourself, and all you do.

You never quit, you keep at it,

And play it gently, proud, and bold,

But if they lift your mask,

You look at them, and only smile.

Once you have, free from the grand illusion,

Looked into the empty eye of the Sphinx,

You are beyond all earthly woes,

All earthly joys, and only smile.)

I see the UCCan tweeted a link to this thread. Look sharp, folks. 

Mendalla

I too like Mary Oliver, Mendalla.  Was introduced to her work at a few events.

i find Carolyn McDade's hymns poetry, who, as it turns out, is another UU.  maybe something about the openness of UU brings out beauty in words.

I first encountered Oliver and McDade through UU'ism. The first settled minister we had after I joined was a huge Oliver fan (and probably knew her). McDade's "Spirit of Life" and "Come Sing a Song With Me" are perennial favorites around my fellowship.

Both have somewhat distanced themselves from UU'ism for various reasons. Our hymn book flags both as UU writers but articles I've read about them within recent years suggest they do not really see themselves as such at present.

"Carolyn McDade does not call herself a Unitarian Universalist. “I never huffed,” she laughs, blowing out a puff of air, “and left. But when someone asks where am I being spiritually formed and where am I participating in spiritual formation with others, it’s not ever been connected with churches. My community is a loose community of women. I call myself a woman of faith seeking with others to touch what matters.”"

from UUWorld, August 2007

Don't have a cite for Oliver, but I have heard similar things about her.

Mendalla

Just reading the comments and wanted to add that I like your avatar photo change, carolla. Very pretty.