Farewell, Merwin, Farewell Long Work Week

I woke up this morning to the news that W. S. Merwin had died.  Of course he lived a long life producing lots of great poems, so in some ways, it's expected news.  And his death was a good one:  "Merwin died today in his sleep at his home in Hawaii" (from the NPR story).  He was 91.

Merwin seems like one of those poets who has always been there, and when I've come across a Merwin poem, I've liked it and wondered why I didn't read more.  But he's not been one of my touchstone poets.  Those poets, too, are aging into a time where their death won't be unexpected.  I think of them as poets in their 40's, when I first discovered them.  We are all older now.

In reading the NPR piece on Merwin, I learned about his later years:  "In the 1980s, Merwin found a worn-out pineapple plantation there and with his wife, Paula, worked to restore the rainforest. His day would begin early with tea, the birds, the wind and maybe some poetry scrawled on the back of an envelope. The afternoon was given to bringing back the palm trees."

Those palm trees, many of them planted in the 1980's, are still going strong.

It sounds like the perfect day:  poetry, tea, and birds in the morning, caring for palm trees in the afternoon.

My days this week have been quite different:  lots of accreditation writing, lots of solving of problems that didn't need to have become problems if people had followed policy, an evening meeting Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  I am still a bit exhausted today.

But let me also remember the good parts of the week:

--doing the accreditation writing that required me to stretch and finding that I was able to stretch.

--writing a poem that surprised me.

--being with church friends several times.

--a good quilt group last Saturday.

--talking to a student about successful test taking strategies (quit changing the answers when you know that you usually choose the correct answer before changing it!) and changing the self talk.

--creating a National Pi Day event that made me happy.

--getting praise for the library displays I've been creating.

--being able to send out some poetry submissions.

--finding a retreat at Mepkin Abbey that calls to my soul.  Best of all, my Mepkin friends are free too--and there were 10 spaces left, so we could all get in.  With the new reservation system, Mepkin spots fill up quickly.

--getting a hotel reservation for Synod Assembly.

--creating some sketches that pleased me.  Having time to sketch, which always pleases me.