April Poetry Dare – Week 2

This April, in honor of National Poetry Month, I accepted a poetry dare from TweetSpeakPoetry: to read a poem every day of the month and share it with my friends. I opted for the challenge of reading a single poet per week, alternating between historical and contemporary poets.

Here’s a day-by-day list of what I read during week 2. Learn more about my chosen poet, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1623-1673), here.

Day 7 – “Motion directs, while Atomes dance” by Margaret Cavendish

“Atomes will dance, and measures keep just time;
And one by one will hold round circle line,”

Day 8 – “Similizing Thoughts” by Margaret Cavendish

“Thoughts as a Pen do write upon the Braine;
The Letters which wise Thoughts do write, are plaine.”

Day 9 – “An Elegy on my Brother, kill’d in these unhappy Warres” by Margaret Cavendish

“My thoughts do watch while thy sweet spirit sleeps….”

Day 10 – “The Circle of the Brain cannot be Squared” by Margaret Cavendish

“For such is Man’s curiosity and mind,
To seek for that, which is hardest to find.”

Day 11 – “A World in an Eare-Ring” by Margaret Cavendish

“And Lightnings, Thunder, and great Winds may blow
Within this Eare-ring, yet the Eare not know.”

Day 12 – “Man’s Short Life and Foolish Ambition” by Margaret Cavendish

“This care is but a word, an empty sound,
Wherein there is no soul nor substance found;

Yet as his heir he makes it to inherit,
And all he has he leaves unto this spirit.”

Day 13 – “An Epilogue to the Above” by Margaret Cavendish

“Thus by imagination I have been
In Fairy court and seen the Fairy Queen.”