Sandra Heska King

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Commit Poetry: Kindness

August 1, 2019 By Sandra Heska King

We have seen kindness in action during the last several weeks.

My 16-year-old grand girl, Gracee AKA Grace AKA Amazing Grace, was in a serious car accident in June. I’ve been in Michigan (I forgot to mention where I actually was in the below video) since then to help in her recovery. While here, I’ve continued to try to memorize a little poetry. The By Heart Community at Tweetspeak Poetry has been working on “Kindness” by Naomi Shihab Nye–one of my very favorite poems by one of my very favorite poets. I’m sure you’ll want to follow the link over there to read what Megan Willome has to say about the poem, how it made her think about the von Trapp family and the Sound of Music, and how she chose to go about memorizing it. Nye shares the backstory of the poem’s birth in this episode for On Being.

When I shared it with Grace, we both agreed the poem reminded us of her current situation. There she was in her new-to-her car on her way to work at the local Dairy Queen with plans for summer fun and making lots of money. Then BOOM! That awful sound of metal hitting metal as the hood of a pickup truck bashed in her door. She found herself in a ditch where she was trapped for 45 minutes. Her summer dissolved in that moment. Her simple breath (and angels riding shotgun) kept her alive, and we all wake up now with sorrow. But she has an amazing team of kind therapists who have raised their heads from the crowd and promised to help make her senior year of school a success.

“Kindness” is found in Nye’s collection called Words Under the Words, and you can see the version I memorized here.

Does “Kindness” have a special meaning for you?

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Filed Under: Blog, Commit Poetry, poetry

Comments

  1. Sandra Murphy says

    August 2, 2019 at 10:44 am

    Thank you, Sandra, for sharing that. Lovely words; impressive memorizing! (And, I’ve discovered your website/blog!). I hope all is well in Michigan.

    • Sandra Heska King says

      August 3, 2019 at 1:54 pm

      Thanks, Sandra! Things are progressing here, but I’m still not sure when I can go home. Maybe we’ll know more after the big team meeting on Monday. šŸ™‚

      My blog is in desperate need of updating. šŸ˜‰

  2. Martha J Orlando says

    August 2, 2019 at 11:40 am

    Prayers for Grace’s full recovery, Sandra! And oh, the importance of kindness cannot be stressed enough, especially in this day and age.
    Blessings!

    • Sandra Heska King says

      August 3, 2019 at 1:55 pm

      Hi, Martha! Grace (and all of us) are grateful for your prayers.

      I’m with you on the kindness thing.

  3. Marilyn Yocum says

    August 5, 2019 at 7:55 am

    Great job!

    First time I heard this poem (on “On Being”), I stopped what I was doing to go look it up, to see the words in print. So profoundly beautiful! I am conflicted, wishing for everyone to know kindness, but no one to have to experience any of the prerequisites.

    “It is I you have been looking for,” yes. We are all in great need of it these days, I feel, to both encounter it and carry it.

    • Sandra Heska King says

      August 6, 2019 at 11:55 am

      I think Nye was on to something. We can give what we *think* is love or kindness or compassion, but unless we’ve really experienced what it’s like to receive it, maybe we really don’t know it. It’s like sharing from a full cup?

      Thinking about this from 2 Corinthians 2:3-4

      “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, SO THAT we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

  4. L.L. Barkat says

    August 6, 2019 at 8:18 am

    Beautiful, Sandra. Thank you. (And your intro made me laugh. šŸ™‚ )

    • Sandra Heska King says

      August 6, 2019 at 11:58 am

      Thanks, Laura. I’m conflicted about the intros. I think my written words can sometimes be funnier than my verbal words. I just noted a couple nasty comments that were left on one of the videos that said “give it a break.” Though they were a bit meaner, and I deleted them. šŸ˜‰

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Talking with D about his grandfather. One of the f Talking with D about his grandfather. One of the farmhands said Grandpa King was one of the toughest men he ever knew. In the dead of a Michigan winter, he wore a baseball cap instead of a knit hat. In April through October he never wore a shirt.
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Once he was raking hay and while trying to get the rake in gear, he fell against the tractor fender. He finished raking hay. Then for the next two days, he rode on a combine bagging oats, bouncing and breathing in dust and lifting bags. After 3 days, he said, ā€œI don’t feel very good. I’m gonna go to the doctor snd see what’s wrong.ā€ He had two or three broken ribs, a punctured lung, and pneumonia.
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D said he only saw him tear up three times.
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1. When his 19-year-old grandson died from a heart condition.
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2. When D said, ā€œ Goodbye Grandpa. I’ll see you in the spring.ā€ ( D was maybe 11 or 12. ) Grandpa was on his way to FL for the winter and knew he probably wouldn’t be back. He died about a month later.
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3. When he talked about the fact that the hotels in FL would not let black baseball players stay there. That was in the 50s.
ā€œBe like a tree and let the dead leaves drop.ā€ ā€œBe like a tree and let the dead leaves drop.ā€ -Rumi
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Even if it’s spring.
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E.T. phone home. E.T. phone home.
Side effects update - 50 hours post Covid vaccine Side effects update - 50 hours post Covid vaccine #2...
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Zip. Zilch. Nada. Nope. None. Not even a sliver.
No chocolate this year. Besides, the neighborhood No chocolate this year. Besides, the neighborhood raccoon we saw up the tree the other night has (had?) a sweet tooth and stole the box the next-door hubby had delivered--took it around the side of their house and ate it all.

Also no flowers or cards. 

Just this. And her name shall be called... drum roll...

We loved all the suggestions. But we also wanted to keep the love connection--and I wanted to let D finally get to choose a name for our 13th (if I've remembered all of them) cat. The rescue named her Valentine, so since she's the only Valentine either of us are getting today, we decided to keep that name--but as a middle name. D has been calling her "Lucy Vallie."

Lucy--for Lucille Ball (I Love Lucy) and her mischief and troublemaking. We've already seen signs of mischief in the shattered antique bottle we'd discovered next to our farmhouse in Michigan. It sat on the windowsill over the bathtub--silly me in having neglected to totally cat-proof--and in the missing top to my contact lens case--that D finally found next to the litter box. 

Also, there's the light-shedding Luci Shaw... whose poetry I love. 

And Lucy Pevensie from the Chronicles of Narnia who superly loved Aslan.

So now we have Lucy the Goose and Lucy Valentine whom we already love and expect lots of love and light and laughs from. And probably lots of mischief. She also has trouble staying still long enough for pictures.

How is Sophie taking to her? Well, they are still pretty much separated. This morning there were some barks and squeals and hisses and growls. But we will get there.

Happy Valentine's Day to us. And to you from all of us. ā¤ļø
Peekaboo... I see you little cutie in the next doo Peekaboo... I see you little cutie in the next door neighbor’s tree. (I’ve got to start carrying the camera at all times.) #eveningwalk
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ā€œThere’s no knowing. But courage, child: we ar ā€œThere’s no knowing. But courage, child: we are all between the paws of the true Aslan.ā€ ~ King Tirian in The Last Battleā€
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In other news, since I was able to hike last night, I’ve been cleaning up my ā€œnestā€ where I’ve hung out for the last month—elevating, icing, snoozing, reading, watching more movies than I’ve watched in a year. I’m happy to report that during this time I’ve read every book in The Chronicles of Narnia, including The Magician’s Nephew that I had to get from the library cuz I don’t know what happened to my copy. First time. Don’t judge. Though I *did* see the LWW when the movie first came out if that counts.
Saw this beauty on our hike last night. Check out Saw this beauty on our hike last night. Check out those feet. And it moved more gracefully than I did. #purplegallinule
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Here. On a whim. No crutches. No boot. No scooter. Here. On a whim. No crutches. No boot. No scooter. Walking slow.
ā€œalert as an admiralā€ ~ Mary Oliver in ā€œHawk ā€œalert as an admiralā€ ~ Mary Oliver in ā€œHawkā€
Thursday, my ortho told me I could start weaning m Thursday, my ortho told me I could start weaning my ankle from the boot and crutches on Saturday--which would have been 3 weeks from injury. So I went home that same day and discontinued the boot. The next day I hung up the sticks. Today I canceled PT. I know what to do, and I will do it cuz you can't keep an adventure girl down for long. But I suppose that means the days of being waited on are over. I may have just sabotaged myself.

Also, my FB memories told me I canceled PT for something (I can't even remember what) 11 years ago this day. I took both cheers and jeers for that in the comments. šŸ˜‚
He thinks I can’t see him. He’s wrong. Camoufl He thinks I can’t see him. He’s wrong. Camouflaged but not concealed. #kingofthehedge
Breakfast. Not sharing. Breakfast. Not sharing.
Time out for a little #berniememes fun. Time out for a little #berniememes fun.
ā€œWe don’t know when he will act. In his time, ā€œWe don’t know when he will act. In his time, no doubt, not ours.ā€ ~ Peter in Prince Caspian
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It’s Inauguration Morning. Prayers for the incoming and the outgoing. Prayers for all of us because we are all exhausted. Prayers for peace and patience and safety and wisdom and more compassion and more kindness and more love and unity. And, please Lord, no more virus.
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