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Column 761

Mind Wanting More

Intro by Ted Kooser
10.20.2019

Here’s a poem by Hol­ly J. Hugh­es, who lives and writes in Wash­ing­ton state, about find­ing joy in what’s before us. I found it in Poet­ry of Pres­ence: An Anthol­o­gy of Mind­ful­ness Poems, pub­lished by Grayson Books of West Hart­ford, CT. Ms. Hugh­es’ most recent book of poet­ry is Hold Fast, (Emp­ty Bowl Press, 2019). 

Mind Wanting More

Only a beige slat of sun
above the horizon, like a shade
pulled not quite down. Otherwise,
clouds. Sea rippled here and
there. Birds reluctant to fly.
The mind wants a shaft of sun to
stir the grey porridge of clouds,
an osprey to stitch sea to sky
with its barred wings, some dramatic
music: a symphony, perhaps
a Chinese gong.
 
But the mind always
wants more than it has—
one more bright day of sun,
one more clear night in bed
with the moon; one more hour
to get the words right; one
more chance for the heart in hiding
to emerge from its thicket
in dried grasses—as if this quiet day
with its tentative light weren't enough,
as if joy weren't strewn all around.

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We do not accept unsolicited submissions

We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2004 by Holly J. Hughes, "Mind Wanting More," from Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems (Grayson Books, 2017). Poem reprinted by permission of Holly J. Hughes and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2024 by The Poetry Foundation.