This post is inspired by Nanya Kooper’s collection of poems 14.
Today I read a collection of poems titled “14” by Nanya Kooper. “To those who have found happiness in the arms of another” is what the dedication of the collection read.
This got me thinking as to whether or not I qualify to read this book and if I truly found happiness in the arms of another.
I didn’t dwell on my question for long, I proceeded to reading the collection and my answer was waiting for me when I finished reading and I wrote it down, so here it is.
Many times when love ends, we often remember only the hurt and the pain that comes with the end, the things that broke us and all the rough edges that bruised our skin.
We forget the sweetness that was at the centre of our lost love, the things that made us catch our breath and the things that made us fall in love.
The first poem in the collection is by E.E Cummings:
Love is thicker than We Forget
Love is thicker than we forget
More thinner than a wave is wet
More seldom than a wave is wet
More frequent than to fail
It is most man and moonly
And less it shall unbe
Than all the sea which only
Is deeper than the sea
Love is less always than to win
Less never than alive
Less bigly than the least begin
Less little than forgive
It is most sane and sunly
And more it cannot die
Than all the sky which only
Is higher than the sky
This poem reminds me of all the beauty that good relationships offer, the pain, hurt, breath taking moments, those in-between moments of pointless conversations, arguments and the lasting effect it has on the people in the relationship.
These are all the things that come together to really do justice to the telling of every love story not the things we remembered that are clouded by hurt and the pain we have chosen not to let go of.
So the next time I tell any of my love stories not matter how much the end hurt, I will choose to remember it in full and not in part.
To answer my question; Yes I have found happiness in the arms of another, though it was for a short time and the pain sometimes causes me to forget.
Below are other poems I love in the collection;
To be read on days when I forget why we love as a gentle reminder
I WISH TO LOSE MYSELF by Nanya Kooper
I wish to lose myself whether in an antique store in downtown London
Or an ocean in Greece where the Medusa was born
Become a Pharaoh, rule in Egypt
While I learn the samurai ways to become a warrior
I dream of Paris and standing on the tower, feeling invincibility fly through me
Yet, I’ve come to such an easy conclusion
That all I dream of or try to accomplish
Will never mean a thing
As well as my adventure which will lose it value
If not shared with you
To be read on days when I forget why we love as a gentle reminder
PROMISING AND IMPRACTICAL by Nanya Kooper
Small talks and red wine
While the moon sings sweetly at night
And draw a circle around us to block all the noise
It’s imaginary thinking, I know
Yet what’s the essence of this love without imagination?
For I hope to love deep and senseless
Till I age as I get closer to the earth, from where I came
Yet from time to time
Pain to pain
Laughter to Laughter
I’ll never claim to have loved better a design
Lovelier than you.
To be read to the one that is coming
Noticing You Nanya Kooperby
I have failed to notice how hot the sun is
Why the moon returns at night
Why roses are the flowers of a lover
Why love does not outlive life itself
I have failed to notice all these since I notice you
And when I noticed you I could not help it
They slapped me out it, the marks stayed, memories strengthened
For I’ve never stopped noticing how you look at the sun
How you marvel when the moon returns at night
Why my rose die when you leave and spring to life when you’re here
How you my only lover give out to give in
Sweet splendour, my heart is driven to tears
I never stopped noticing
I will never stop noticing
I thought I will never notice again
Until you came along.
