In celebration of National Poetry Month the Jasper Project invited several artists, writers, and leaders in the Columbia arts community to share with us their favorite poems and most of them generously accepted.
We’ve put together this collection of our favorite poems and will be sharing them with you, poem by poem, day by day, over the month of April. Some of the poems are old and traditional, others are new and inventive. Some are whimsical, others are insightful. Some rhyme. Some don’t.
What they all have in common is that someone you know loves that poem – and this gives us such lovely insight into the soul of our community.
Thank you to everyone who shared their poetry with us.
And Happy National Poetry Month from Jasper.
My favorite poet is Hafiz. c. 1320 to 1389, a beautiful, mystic, Sufi poet from Persia. I heard his work for the first time when I was in a little village in an ashram in India in the late ‘90s.
Hearing his poems makes my cry.
At This Party
(Translated from Persian)
I don't want to be the only one here
Telling all the secrets -
Filling up all the bowls at this party,
Taking all the laughs.
I would like you
To start putting things on the table
That can also feed the soul
The way I do.
That way
We can invite
A hell of a lot more
Friends.
Formerly of Trustus Theatre, the Nickelodeon, Columbia City Ballet, the SC Arts Commission, The Jasper Project, and the Kershaw County Fine Arts Center, Larry is currently the development director for Columbia Children’s Theatre.
Larry Hembree