Jack Ridl: Pick of the Week [ed. Terence Winch]

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It’s Often Time to Feed the Birds

 

The ornaments are still on the tree.

     We’re still playing Irish carols.

          And damned be anyone who says

 

our sweetness of feeling is excessive or false.

      Jim Harrison is smiling and fiercely

          reminding it’s better to live as

 

a sentimentalist than to die a smart ass.

      I was at the back window watching

          our dog, my wife, and our daughter,

 

the dog bounding into the wind-drifted

     snow as they, bundled and laughing,

           trudged their way to the front door.

 

It’s a new year. But is there such a thing?

      The sun sets, rises, sets, and we name

            the days that tumble one into

 

another while 500 million light years away

       lies a galaxy with suns that have no

             days, no war, no need for a manger.

 

Here we must waken, roll away the stone

       from our empty tomb of sleep, step

              through another sunlit tragic day, trying

 

to believe in the snowplow, the mail,

       the hello from the next-door neighbor, the mourning

              doves fluffed at the nearly empty feeder.

                                                                       for Dan Gerber

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Jack Ridl has published eight collections, the latest being All at Once (CavanKerry Press, which also published his Losing Season). Wayne State University Press published his Saint Peter and the Goldfinch, Practicing to Walk Like a Heron, which received the ForeWords Review Gold Medal for poetry, and Broken Symmetry, named the year’s best book of poetry by The Society of Midland Authors. Billy Collins, Poet Laureate at the time, chose Ridl’s Against Elegies for the NYC Center for Book Arts Award. Ridl is co-author with Peter Schakel of Approaching Literature and co-editor of 250 Poems, both from Bedford/St. Martin’s. The Carnegie Foundation named him Michigan’s Professor of the Year. More than 80 of his students have earned their MFA in poetry, and more than 100 are publishing, several having won first book awards. Jack Ridl’s weekly YouTube program “The Sentimentalist” centers on everyday, non-newsworthy subjects, each program ending with a poem.  

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                                               Jim Harrison in 1972. Photograph from CSU Archives Everett

Comments

[Bill Nevins]

Jack Ridl is my favorite poet discovered (via T.Winch of course) in 2024, just as the year ends. I will be reading his work in 2025, and that bodes a good year for this reader indeed! Gracias, Jack and Terry! Happy new years ever and ever.
"Here we must waken, roll away the stone

from our empty tomb of sleep, step

through another sunlit tragic day, trying

to believe . . . "

[Terence Winch]

Bill---thanks for the comment.

[Robert McDowell]

Not enough of a smart-ass...Just Kidding!

We're going to need more Jack Ridl in the years to come.

So says one who also lives in the rhythm of the up-and-down bird feeder.

[Clarinda Harriss]

This poem rolled a stone away from my Sunday morning —I slept so late I I might have hibernating. I’m
Glad I woke to the day with this great poem.

[Sr. Leslie]

What a marvelous poem!…what more can I say but that I have already made a copy and placed it in my PrayerBook…a wonderful prayer for Vespers tonight…Thank you Terence and Jack!

[Grace Cavalieri]

I needed Jack Ridl today to remind myself of the pure joy beyond the tasks holidays bring. And I love poets who quote Jim Harrison!

[Terence Winch]

Thanks, Leslie. I always treasure your comments.

[Eileen Reich]

I love this poem. I especially liked “it’s better to live as a sentimentalist than to die a smart ass”.

[Phyllis Rosenzweig]

Very soulful; appropriately so. Thanks.

[Beth Joselow]

This poem hit me where I am, "trying to believe...." Excellent choice for this new year. Thank you.

[Richard Giannone]

Happy and healthy new year, Terry. Much love, Richard

[Caprice]

Such a beautiful, touching poem. A gift to my heart. Thank you so much for posting this poem.

[Mary Ellen Ziegler]

Omg - so many great phrases…”smart ass, rolled away the stone … ,
MOURNING doves!!!”

Just as I was wondering what or how to think of current paradoxes! Feeling bad that I’m not as “positive” in my focus or able to cure the world of war, disease or depression…you bring me hope I can write something that matters.

With endless gratitude!
Mary Ellen Ziegler

[GF Korreck]

We make time for all that truly matters. We embrace the sentiment of moments. We feed the birds. We feed each other. We believe that our presence matters. This poem is an anthem to being present, to being alive to each pother, the every day of everyday. This is as deep a testament of love as one can make. And Jack Ridl does it always so well.

[Dana VanderLugt]

Love this poem. Sentimentalism forever! Thank you for sharing it.

[Elizabeth McBride]

Not only does Jack Ridl speak of the things that matter most, he models the recognition of beauty, sincerity, kindness, and generosity as they appear in the world and as we too can discover them in our own existence. His gentle appreciation of life’s many gifts helps us all find the treasures within our ever-fleeting moments.

[Karen L Morris]

Jack's voice is tender, an unintrusive plea that gently works its way into us...
"Here we must waken," YES, please... "from our empty tomb..."
There's a sort of warning here among the lovely lines. I love and appreciate the seriousness of his tone.

[Robbi Hartt]

I have known Jack for 45 years (a rich blessing beyond his poems), and still his words awaken me from so many tombs. Thanks for this day's reminder to watch out the back door, bound through the wind-drifted snow, remember the triviality and immensity of time, and keep trying to believe——not in the things we so often fixate on, but the simple, necessary ones...

"the snowplow, the mail,

the hello from the next-door neighbor, the mourning

doves fluffed at the nearly empty feeder."

[Alan Abrams]

smart-ass or sentimentalist? Ayee! please don't make me chose!

[Michael Whelan]

Ridl opens a liberating frame. I found it a much needed way to expand perspective on what awaits us as a nation when we “roll away the stone” this year. A fine choice especially for 2025. Thanks.

[Ruth Zwald]

Jack captures so well this experience of being human. I especially love

step
through another sunlit tragic day, trying

Isn't that it? The balance of light of shadow. Our showing up to do our best.
May we all be encouraged to let our hearts open wider this new year...if there is such a thing...

[Alison]

Jack is a marvel! His caring and compassion are humbling and his writing is full of wisdom and honesty. I am so fortunate to know him!

[Carrie Newcomer]

Thank you Jack for this beautiful and timely poem- so many images and images.
"better to live as a sentimentalist than to die a smart ass." "to believe in the snowplow, the mail,the hello from the next-door neighbor, the mourning doves fluffed at the nearly empty feeder."

The balance of what is luminous and languishing, what lifts us up and lays us out.

humbling and insightful and compassionate and genuine.... true Jack Ridl

[D. R. James]

I always feel, even hear, a collective gasp when you read these lines to an audience:

lies a galaxy with suns that have no

days, no war, no need for a manger.

Especially in our uptight area! And I love it, wait for it.

Thanks again, Jack, for prompting the ambition to de-ambition.

[Kathleen McGookey]

I just love Jack's work. It's wonderful to see it here on Best American Poetry!