"This Morning, This First Poem" by Afaa Michael Weaver

[View this email on a browser]( [Forward to a friend]( [facebook-icon]( [tumblr-icon]( [twitter-icon]( October 15, 2018 [This Morning, This First Poem]( [Afaa Michael Weaver]( It is the first day of the year again, this time in the quiet absence of Portlandia, we have our own quiet way of entering the spaces between the seconds of life, where time fades. The fire makes a noise, inside here where ice and snow make the earth frozen, press us to guess what weather will do now as weather becomes a matter of climate with no divination. I listen to your napping, air going inside to fill you with warmth from the fireplace, air going out to let your soul teach the world what it is to make the journey to the heart. So this first poem the day a golden retriever wallowed in the sunrise over frozen snow, then sat up to grin the silly grin of its kind, as if to say, the light is there if you only wait. We wait together for the first man to enter this house we are leaving for another house, as you say it is me, I am the man to bless the heart, its mystery of fire and the light. [Like this on Facebook]( [Share via Twitter]( Copyright © 2018 Afaa Michael Weaver. Used with permission of the author. [Afaa Michael Weaver reads "This Morning, This First Poem."]( About This Poem “While in the process of moving to the Hudson Valley area, my partner Kristen and I were nestled in front of the fireplace in the old house in Connecticut. As she slept, I meditated on the fire, her breathing, and a quatrain structure for writing about the heart, fire, and light. I thought of the heart as the governing power in the energetic body, while watching the rhythm of the fire and the patterning of light shifting in the windows. In the way of physics, I am always fascinated by the paradoxical nature of light as both wave and particle.” —Afaa Michael Weaver [Afaa Michael Weaver]( Afaa Michael Weaver is the author of Spirit Boxing (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2017). He teaches in the MFA programs at Drew University and Sarah Lawrence College. He lives in the Hudson Valley in New York. Photo Credit: Rachel Eliza Griffiths [more-at-poets]( [Spirit Boxing]( Poetry by Weaver [Spirit Boxing]( (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2017) "Everything That Ever Was" by Tracy K. Smith [read-more]( "Heisenberg" by Christian Barter [read-more]( "The Watch" by Danusha Laméris [read-more]( October Guest Editor: Ross Gay Thanks to Ross Gay, author of Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2015), who curated Poem-a-Day this month. Read more about [Gay](and our [guest editors for the year.]( [make a one-time donation]( [make a monthly donation]( [Small-Blue-RGB-poets.org-Logo]( Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit [Poets.org](. You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click [here](. © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038