CU Boulder Libraries: Exquisite Hope 2021, National Poetry Month
Exquisite Hope 2021
Exquisite Hope 2021 follows the reading of the previous year. This year's reading is evocative of the range of experiences through which our CU Boulder community has all lived during another year of quarantine.
They write:
"Last spring, we found ourselves in a new and uncertain world. In subsequent months we endured many hardships both individually and collectively—challenges so deeply transformative that the world now appears different to all of us ... We are delighted that 43 authors contributed verses with striking imagery and emotion. Recently, a group of librarians gathered together to read and record this year's poem, including Caroline Sinkinson, Amanda Rybin Koob, Daniel Johnston, Abbey Lewis, Megan Welsh and Sarah Hagerman."
“It is very moving to listen to this year’s 'Exquisite Hope' as life enters into another period of transition,” said Literature and Humanities Librarian Amanda Rybin Koob. “It’s doubly meaningful to revisit last year’s poem alongside this one, to think of them as bookends to an extraordinary year, and to witness the resilience of our communities.”
Watch the Libraries' “Exquisite Hope: One Poem, Many Voices” poetry reading here.
Exquisite Hope
Gourmet cooks blossom in fertile kitchens.
Blightful shrub, dying sanctimonious, churchyard.
Salty tears turn into laughter.
Our everyday walks moved us slowly through a standstill year.
An outdated map charts an uncertain path to hope.
Daily life moves to zoom.
The sunny orb shines dimly here.
The infinite liver recommends the embarrassing quarry.
Billowy clouds soften jagged edges.
Content kitten purring in my warm lap.
Hope is not only in the brain; but the heart.
Ook ik ben Amerika.[1]
Dark winter nurtures deep grief.
Dewey spring seeds emotional flowers.
Hopeful tree of life that nourishes the forgotten as the stream of light in a dry spell.
Apprehensive camels might be walking through dreams.
Hi-tech vaccine beats this nasty virus.
Pain produces the most vivid pleasures.
Pleasure numbs the most essential pains.
Truth exists to correct the most believable lies.
Lies exist to soothe the most unbearable truths.
Young fingers dance over the keyboard with surprising power.
Sore arm elates my sequestered soul.
Soused liquor stores drown in copious cash.
Little waists grow in concentric circles.
Bleary-eyed friends rabble-rouse on generous screens.
Stacked books beckon to a warm bed.
Anxious hearts fear packed grocery aisles.
Double-glazed windows prove better than doughnuts.
Distant families cross virtual boundaries.
Baby geese herald the coming light.
Suspended lotus stars sparkle in twilight.
Reddish hue, spreading through hazy skies.
Dusty trails lace rock-strewn mountains.
Exquisite nature brightens dimmed hopes.
Potter's plastered hands clamped outside the cooling kiln.
Chipper birds are sounds of Earth burping,
Goodness of motherly love taking off in every which direction,
Fleeting feelings of Morning dew.
Souls arise to make room for more of
Thyself for the collective U(s).[2]
Sweet mother talks open morning.
Surprise complaints, struggle fresh flowers.
Easy laugh comforts sleep-deprived friend.
Hot headache calmed by gentle dog.
Petrarch’s sorrow finds no rest.
Unerring time slips quietly away.
Blue motorcycles rev red flames.
Scary Ends become brave Beginnings.
Skittering stones skipping across the breathing earth.
Exquisite Hope: A Poem from the CU Libraries Community
Read and Hosted by:
Sarah Hagerman
Daniel Johnston
Abbey Lewis
Amanda Rybin Koob
Caroline Sinkinson
Megan Welsh
[1] Contributor note: From "Ook Ik," a Dutch translation of Langston Hughes' poem, "I, Too."
[2] Contributor note: -D.W.M