Forgetfulness
~ Alfonsina Storni
Translated by Marion Freeman and Mary Crow

Lydia Rosa: today is Tuesday and it’s cold.
In your gray stone house, you sleep at the edge
Of the city. Do you still hang onto your lovesick heart
Now that you’ve died of love? I’ll tell you what’s happening.

The man you adored, the man with the cruel gray eyes,
He’s smoking his cigarette in the autumn afternoon.
From behind the windowpanes, he watches the yellow sky
And the street in which faded papers swirl.

He takes a book, draws near the cold heater,
And sitting down, he turns it on.
Only the noise of the clawed paper can be heard.

Five o’clock. You fell into his arms at that hour,
And maybe he remembers you . . . But his soft bed
Now holds the warm hollow of another rosy body.

For my US-based poets: The Academy of American Poets First Book Award is a $5,000 first-book publication prize. The winning manuscript, chosen by an acclaimed poet, is published by Graywolf Press, a leading independent publisher committed to the discovery and energetic publication of contemporary American and international literature.

The winner also receives an all-expenses-paid six-week residency at the Civitella Ranieri Center in the Umbrian region of Italy, distribution of the winning book to thousands of Academy of American Poets members, and promotion in American Poets magazine.

The 2021 judge is Claudia Rankine. Submissions will be accepted from September 16, 2020 to November 16, 2020.

This award was established in 1975 to encourage the work of emerging poets and to enable the publication of a poet’s first book. It is currently made possible by financial support from the members of the Academy of American Poets. From 1975 – 2020, the award was titled in tribute to Walt Whitman. Please see their website list of Walt Whitman Award winners.

A couple of years ago, I wrote this post about judgment and compassion, because I was engaging in some painful and destructive behaviors around judging other people that had serious negative effects on me and everyone around me. I needed to find ways to channel the time and energy taken by those thoughts into more constructive expression, both for the sake of the person on the receiving end of my negativity, and for my own mental and emotional health.

A little over two years later, I have made progress, although I still have a ways to go. I have fewer experiences where my brain’s first response is to go into judgment, and, when it does, I am more easily able to catch the thought to reshape it, and to shift the energy from negative to positive. Sometimes it’s quite the effort—I still do not deal well with careless drivers, as that triggers very deep things for me, due to my mother’s death in a car accident. That one is going to require a lot more work.

One of the practices I’ve developed that has been most helpful is that, when I find myself judging, I try to step back and see the person through the eyes of one of my Gods.

Sigyn asks me to consider whether this person might be suffering from a family trauma.

Loki asks me to consider whether this person feels alone or alienated, or is struggling with a mental health issue.

Eir asks me to consider whether this person might be dealing with a physical ailment, or be in need of some kind of healing.

Saga reminds me that this person may be unconsciously caught in a story that compels them towards negative behaviors.

Frigg suggests that perhaps this person is just having a bad day, and that they are under pressures which are preventing them from being aware of the effects of their actions.

Angrboda acknowledges that yes, this person may indeed be an entitled, self-centered prat, but their behavior is not under my control, so I need to turn my attention back to managing my own stuff.

All of Them encourage me to a place of compassion and understanding, rather than judgment. This is going to take a lot more practice, but it is easier when I view them through the eyes of one of my Gods.

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[Image description: A teaser screenshot of this week’s Insight from the Oracles, with just a hint of the cards and runes showing.]