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    Home » Sedona Lit: People You Know, and Poems They Love
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    Sedona Lit:
    People You Know, and Poems They Love

    September 11, 20173 Comments
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    Healing Paws

    Sedona Lit is a series by Dr. Elizabeth Oakes, an award winning poet and former Shakespeare professor. A Sedonian of four years, she highlights the literature, written or performed, of Sedona, past and present.

    photo_elizabethoakes_216By Elizabeth Oakes
    (September 9, 2017)

    In a recent Sedona Culture Collaborative poll about interest in the liberal arts, only 14% marked the literary arts, by far the lowest percentage. I decided to do my own poll – of sorts – and asked some of Sedona’s stars if they had a favorite poem. Yes, they did! Several couldn’t pick just one. Another said it changed from day to day. Here they are:

    Barbara Litrell (Community Leader) – “Il Pleure dans mon Coeur” by Paul Verlaine

    Linda Goldenstein (Arts Developer/Sedona Promoter) – “A Call to Love” by Rumi

    Andrea Christelle (Philosopher) – “The Garden of Love” by William Blake

    Pash Galbavy (Performance Artist) – “The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver

    John Soderberg (Sculptor) – “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley

    Sarah McLean (Meditation Teacher) – “The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver and “At once the winged energy of delight” by Rainer Maria Rilke

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    Camilla Ross (Professional Actress) – “How Do I Love Thee” (Sonnet 43) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

    Paul Friedman (Facilitator/Mediator) – “School Prayer” by Diane Ackerman

    Russell Fox (Musician/Conductor/Arts Administrator) – “Death, Be Not Proud” (Holy Sonnet 10) by John Donne and “Intimations of Immortality” by William Wordsworth

    Gary Every (Writer/Photographer) – “Otherwise” by Jane Kenyon

    20170909_oakes

    Poetry hits the heart like nothing else; note that three of the above even contain the word “love.” Two picked the same Mary Oliver poem (it must be floating around Sedona)!

    I hope you’ll google them and see if they resonate with you as well. Also, if you, dear reader, have a favorite poem, please share by commenting below.

    Stay tuned, as I plan a similar column on favorite novels!

    3 Comments

    1. Angela LeFevre on September 11, 2017 11:09 am

      I have always been drawn to a poem called “The Listeners” by Walter De La Mare. I know most of the poem off by heart as it was the poem I chose to read in competition when I was taking a public speaking course in the US as a high school foreign student many years ago. It is a beautiful poem, a little unworldly/scary but very special.

    2. Elizabeth Oakes on September 11, 2017 1:12 pm

      Thank you, Angela, especially for sharing the circumstances! A poem can be with us for a lifetime!

    3. Mariana Warner on September 22, 2017 1:41 pm

      Elizabeth,
      A Cottonwood friend forwarded your column to me, where I saw titles of familiar poems and familiar faces, including yours. Your photo doesn’t do you justice.
      I love Mary Oliver’s poetry, and I disagree with John Ruskin, who (in a critique of Wordsworth) spoke of his “pathetic fallacy” of attributing human attributes (thoughts, feelings, etc.) to inanimate objects. “Posh!” was the unanimous response of my Asheville, NC weekly circle of poets and lovers of poetry, who are big on exercising poetic license, and on Mary Oliver, who uses that device, along with many of the other great poets, current and classic.
      One of my favorite classic poets is Shakespeare, though won’t boil my preference down to a single sonnet. A more recent favorite is Stanley Kunitz, and his “Touch Me.”
      Today’s political climate calls to mind “Ozymandias,” a cautionary tale still relevant, I fear. Sometimes humor is an escape from the bad news, and I enjoy Billy Collins, too. “The Lanyard” is one of my favorites of his.

      Today I was amused by an anonymous bumper sticker:

      HAIKU CONFUSE ME.
      OFTEN THEY MAKE NO SENSE.
      HAND ME THE PLIERS.

      What is your favorite poem?

      Mariana


    City Council Weighs ATV Ban Ordinance Proposal
    By Tommy Acosta
    The Sedona City Council at its May 23, 2023 meeting took no action on a proposed ordinance that would ban all off-road vehicles from being driven on state-owned public roads or streets owned by the city. The ordinance, spearheaded by Sedona Mayor Scott Jablow on the premise that such vehicles pose a risk to the health, safety and welfare of the community, would impose heavy fines to anyone driving the ATVs or OHVs on city streets, including S.R. 179 and S.R. 89A. ATV rental companies have admitted that such vehicles are not intended or designed to be driven on paved roads, yet, in Arizona, they are allowed to do so under Arizona Revised Statute 28-1174 (4B). Opponents against the ordinance argued at the meeting that if adopted the ban would cripple the ATV rental industry in Sedona and cause much hardship to the owners and employees, as it would effectively, as written, destroy their livelihood. Read more→
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