I am is a complete sentence.

I’m currently immersing myself in poetry. I find that it’s an acquired taste, a fragrance I have to get used to, to appreciate it more and more. A bit like listening to Jazz.

On my quest to understand and appreciate poetry more, I discovered the podcast “Poetry Unbound”. Each episode is dedicated to one poem and reflection on that poem…

I love this line from the poem “What You Missed That Day You Were Absent from Fourth Grade” by Brad Aaron Modlin:

The English lesson was that I am
is a complete sentence.

It reminds me that I am already complete, that I don’t need anything or anybody else. It’s so easy to forget…

And this last line also struck a chord with me:

And just before the afternoon bell, she made the math equation
look easy. The one that proves that hundreds of questions,

and feeling cold, and all those nights spent looking
for whatever it was you lost, and one person

add up to something.

You can listen to the poem (and some reflections on the poem) in the “Poetry Unbound” podcast or you can read the poem on the OnBeing Website.

Love,
Sean.