Poetry for a Pandemic with Pat Schneider

Life in the time of the coronavirus has called forth a kind of patience we may not be used to practicing. Waiting for a visit with family or friends, waiting for our favorite restaurant or coffee spot to open, waiting for life to go “back to normal” are all things we are not used to having to wait for. But, in the midst of all of this waiting, there is also an opportunity to notice the waiting that is inherent in so much of life, all of the time. Poet Pat Schneider paints such a picture of waiting in this poem.

Patience of Ordinary Things

It is a kind of love, is it not?
How the cup holds the tea,
How the chair stands sturdy and foursquare,
How the floor receives the bottoms of shoes
Or toes. How soles of feet know
Where they’re supposed to be.
I’ve been thinking about the patience
Of ordinary things, how clothes
Wait respectfully in closets
And soap dries quietly in the dish,
And towels drink the wet
From the skin of the back.
And the lovely repetition of stairs.
And what is more generous than a window?

~ Pat Schneider
Another River: New and Selected Poems

For reflection:

What are you waiting for?

What is waiting for you?