271 It Does No Good to Worry

It Does No Good to Worry

Well, dear readers, I am often told that it does no good to worry. I do worry, however. This week I am worried still about the pandemic and climate change 

and the painting in our house that needs to 

be done. I worry about the homeless, the west coast, Louisiana, and small businesses. I worry that New York City will never be the same! I worry about the four-year-old granddaughter whom we have not seen since February. 

Particularly, with the election Tuesday, I am worried about the Electoral College and how the election will play out. Do we still need the Electoral College? I have been wondering about this since I was a junior in high school! 

I decided, however, that worry was making my stomach hurt. The dogs are out in the sunshine, according to dear husband, trying to play grab the bags in the trash. I played around on Google to see what was trending. Does Trump have a Chinese bank account? Take away statements from the last “debate.” Mail-in ballots. Covid-19 vaccines. BUT I also found a biography of Laura Glück, the American poet who won the Nobel prize for literature this year. 

All of us have a few lines of favorite poetry from over the years. Maybe those lines we had to memorize in school or one that touched us in some way. I have always liked Emily Dickinson and Dorothy Parker with a touch of Poe and a line or two John Dunne. In college I found “Howl,” the Ginsberg poem that is the symbol of the turbulence of the late 1960s and 70s. 

Be that as it may for background, today I am adding Laura Glűck (rhymes with “click”) to the list. I will be honest and say I had heard the name but had NO context for recognizing it. Seems she was the U.S. Poet Laureate 2003-2004. Shame on me!

Here’s a brief bit of biography so you too can know a little about this amazing woman. She was born in New York City and attended Sarah Lawrence and Columbia. She won a Pulitzer in 1993 so she has been around for a while. At age 77 she is still a part-time professor at Yale and at Boston University along with producing 11 poetry anthologies and a non-fiction award-winning book: Essays on Poetry. In 2016 President Obama awarded her the National Humanities Medal. (This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia Louise Gluck; it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified,)

I have been reading her poetry. Some is dark; some is lyrical; some I do not understand. Here is a sampling: 

Google: louise+gluck+poems&tbm=isch&hl=en&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS856US856&hl

I am sorry it took me so long to find her. If you have favorites poems or know her work from somewhere, we would love to hear how she was revealed to you.

Off to watch the pre- and post-election news. Stay well! 

                                            Somewhat savvy, Glenne