Belated hello from the other half of the couple! I write at my computer for a living, so I'll probably be delinquent on the blog front, but here I go.
Since Andrew's been focussed on addressing our invites (my handwriting was rightly judged unsuitable for public consumption) I've been trying to find some good readings for the wedding ceremony. I found a couple of anthologies of wedding readings at the library, but most of the selections have been hit or miss, with an emphasis on miss. There are a few too many willfully obscure choices (think Turkish folk poems and Maori tribal chants), and some selections that are a little bit too racy for a wedding ceremony (Emily Dickinson's Wild Nights is a perfectly nice poem, but not really the mood we're going for).
The other obstacle is finding readings that are either gender neutral or, much less likely, about two men. We've found a few contenders, but the hunt is still very much on.
So here's where you come in. If you happen to have any suggestions for wedding readings, let us know (feel free to post in the comments section). Also, bonus points if anyone knows of any good readings by e.e. cummings that would work. Andrew and I visited his grave at Forest Hills Cemetary in Jamaica Plain on an early date. It's not as morbid as it sounds! But there's a great memorial to him there, a hollowed-out tree with a slot carved inside it with a book of his poems and a notebook for people to write their own. We like what we've read by him, but we don't know enough to think of something thematically appropriate. Any ideas?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I've been wracking my brain for poetry ideas, but realize that I don't really know what your criteria would be.
My questions would be these: Why have readings? What role will these texts play in your ceremony? What ought they say that the actions of the wedding won't say for themselves?
And then I might have some ideas. The fact that you like e.e. cummings very much leads me to think you might like Mary Oliver, who loves nature and puts together such pretty verses in a delicate, remarkable way.
E and A!
Long time listener; first time caller. ;)
ee cummings is my boy! I am so psyched you like him! My personal fave is I Carry Your Heart:
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
And, Mr. Emerson Beyer, you are right on with Mary Oliver as well. :)
E
Post a Comment