Do we have time for a poem?
Sally Susman
Executive Vice President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Pfizer, Author of WSJ Bestseller Breaking Through (Harvard Business Review Press)
April 2021 marks the 25th annual celebration of poets and poetry: National Poetry Month. I’m reminded of a time when my daughter’s high school English teacher asked a simple question—“Do we have time for a poem?”—to the parents assembled that evening for parent/teacher conferences. We parents, anxious and stressed, shrugged our shoulders like teenagers.
Undeterred, the teacher read a few lines from Robert Frost. I left that classroom feeling moved, breathing deeper and reminded of the power of poetry to transport us. So, the answer is: “Yes.” We always have time for a poem.
My first favorite poem was A.A. Milne’s “Halfway Down.” It concludes:
Halfway up the stairs
Isn’t up
And it isn’t down.
It isn’t in the nursery,
It isn’t in town.
And all sort of funny thoughts
Run round my head.
It isn’t really
Anywhere!
It’s somewhere else
Instead!
In my adult life, Mary Oliver’s “The Summer Day” has been my constant companion. It opens with “Who made the grasshopper?” and ends with “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” So many good questions, such profound curiosity.
I strain to wonder who cannot be moved by the powerful and timely words Amanda Gorman spoke at President Biden’s inauguration:
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew;
That even as we hurt, we hoped;
That ever as we tired, we tried…
So, I urge you—whether it’s today, tomorrow, or even next month—please take a moment for poetry and share your favorite poems in the comments section.
Award-winning Global Brand Strategist | Sr Partner, Head of Brand Consulting | Chief Strategy & Brand Officer | Sustainability Leader | CMO | Chief MarComm Officer | Board Member | Storyteller | Content Creator
3 年I love Rudyard Kipling’s poem ?IF??: ??If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too?? And also TS Eliot: ??Do I dare Disturb the universe? In a minute there is time For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.?? Thank you Sally Susman!
Penn State University ~ Great Valley School of Graduate Studies
3 年"Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou - it's a poem I think everyone should read You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
Key Account Director | Passionate public health advocate | strategic population health specialist | immunization evangelist | true science geek
3 年Beautiful selections! Thank you for sharing.
Corporate and Community Resiliency and Preparedness | Crisis Management | Business Continuity
3 年In the middle of the stairs is a stair where I sit........