The poem “Abide” by Ellen Birkett Morris offers elegant advice about slowing down and paying attention. The poem appears in the anthology Running with Water, published by V Press LC and is read with permission of the author. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “”Abide,” by Ellen Birkett Morris”
You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette. Here’s a poem from Ellen Burkett Morris. It’s called Abide.
It is unfashionable these days to spend your time watching morning light radiate off wood floors.
Notice the rich grain. Linger over your old dog’s fur. Marvel at the softness that still remains.
Relish simple flavors, the peach, the ripe tomato.
Get lost in sentences of Dickens.
Wander as they do through narrow alleys,
Or wind through the fields of wildflowers that is Austin’s prose.
Bathe in the sound of your husband’s voice as he tells a long story of neighbors.
Allow the minute, the second.
Savor the tick, indulge the talk.
Pause what passes for your life to feel the slow stretch of time made slower for the pausing.
Wait until you feel your place each breath a moment held each breath given for the next.
Grant, I came across that poem one day when I was looking at my phone and just thinking.
Why am I still looking at my phone? I’m just burning my eyes with that light from the phone.
And there was something about this poem that really struck me about just stopping and paying attention to my breath and all the sensory things around me.
I’ve been working on that a lot more myself.
It’s just trying to be a little more committed to avoiding rote action.
Oh, that’s a good way to put it, rote action.
Yeah, I was actually reading this poem on my phone, and I kind of glanced away,
And I was looking at the morning light radiating off the wood floors, just like she talks about.
But there was something that was kind of Mary Oliver and Annie Dillard about this poem that I really liked.
It’s called Abide.
It’s by Ellen Burkett Morris, used with permission,
And it appeared in the anthology Running With Water from VPressLC.
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