Reading “Things” by Jane Kenyon

Poetry Lunch S6E4

Reading "Things" by Jane Kenyon from The Best Poems of Jane Kenyon, Graywolf Press.

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I love the quiet straightforward acceptance of time and all its passing that this poem traverses in its short four stanzas. We go from eternity to failing, from lasting to not, from small specifics to the wider human condition. I love how a poem can stretch so far over so few words.

"Now is her time to thrive." Though this statement holds clear positive strength it also holds the acknowledgement that of course, a time that is not the time for thriving will also come. A lot of people don't like remembering this but I find it comforting almost-of course I can't do anything about time and what it brings or doesn't. In light of that the line makes me feel invited to just be in it. And the next lines!

"... simply lasting, / then failing to last"

I feel relief deep in this reality so plainly spoken. All the things are just things, us included. There's thriving to do, and falling to do, and light to catch you.

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Link to Purchase

Get the book: The Best Poems of Jane Kenyon

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About the Author

Jane Kenyon was a New England Poet Laureate who published four volumes of poetry during her life: From Room to Room (1978), The Boat of Quiet Hours (1986), Let Evening Come (1990), and Constance (1993), and, as translator, Twenty Poems of Anna Akmatova (1985). You can read more about her life on her Poetry Foundation page here.