Dear Friends,
I picked the smallest trio of gardenia blossoms from my bush, placed them in a silver vase and sat them on my desk.
Beauty permeated my home. Fragrant beauty.
If you know this flower you know the potency of its fragrance, the unmistakeable trademark of its sweet, sweet smell. They say that our memory of smells stays with us the longest. Perhaps while others fade, slowly for some, quickly for others, the memory of Noxzema, fresh cut grass and Confederate Jasmine linger the longest. Find a place to embed or root deep down in our souls.
But I say, the memory of a generous act may rival the glorious fragrance of my beloved gardenia.
And so it is was when I planted the seed of a dream. And the winds of friendship picked it up, carried it off and watered it gingerly. Carefully. Diligently.
Friends who are strangers. Making the sweetness even more delectable.
Thank you. Saying it feels right and proper yes, but healing. In a come-full-circle way, the sending back of gratitude when a kind and generous gift has been received feels like closure. Gathering up the seeds of generosity and sending them back out to land on fertile soil, elsewhere. Out there. In the world.
Thank you friends at Tweetspeak Poetry and TSPoetry Press. Thank you L.L. Barkat and Tania Runyan. Thank you friends, known and unknown. Thank you for gathering the momentum, funds, and steam behind the gift of 180 copies of “How To Read A Poem,” published by TSPoetry Press and written by Tania Runyan.
When I think of my gardenia which bloom every summer I will always remember your friendship and generosity.
I know we have given a gift which has and will touch the hearts and souls and minds of the class of 2014 of one school in one little zip code town.
There is mystery in the giving. There is trust in the release.
Poetry has a job to do, perhaps. Poetry has an opportunity to release its fragrant offering into the lives of one graduating class.
The gift of poetry and the gift of faith, joined together in this one beautiful act of friendship and generosity.
May you smell the sweet fragrance of my thanks. May my gratitude be known and remembered by each participant in this act of generosity.
Imagine with me the possibilities. Dream with me of the places poetry will go.
wishing you poetry, always,
elizabeth
elizabeth w. marshall 
BeautyFull community, for sure.
I’ve never smelled a gardenia. Is it like a magnolia?
Blessings.
The sweet aroma of poetry wafting across the nation, the world, even, into the lives of young people.
Have you ever seen Dead Poet’s Society? It’s a hard movie because of the pivotal plot point I cannot allude to without revealing a spoiler, but also so inspiring. I selected some clips for my high school class to watch at the end. I think it helped them really appreciate the poetry practice from the beginning of the year. I used Tania’s material and they grew to embrace and read and write and memorize and love poetry.
I hope the same happens for these graduates…that poetry becomes part of their everyday lives.
So glad to read this. I wonder if sometime we might hear a story or two from these students who received the gift of poetry? I hope so. I hope at least one of them goes on to write gardenia scented verse that brings sweetness to their world.
I am so honored to be a part of this sweet gift to so many young people. May poetry change their lives!
“Dream with me of the places poetry will go.” Elizabeth, I, like you, am forever in debt to the unseen friends I have via Laura Barkat and Tweetspeak Poetry, and the lovely Tania whom I was able to meet in person earlier this Spring here in Seattle.
I have caught the poetry bug and it’s bad………thanks to all of them. I will continue to do my part in my little elementary teaching corner of the world to let kids know they, too, can not only read a poem, but maybe write one some day, too.
What a blessing those kids have received in that one-zipcode town in Florida, thanks to you.