Live Virtual Group Session: 6PM EDT September 10th 2025

10 Comments

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we read a poem “Classifieds” by Wislawa Szymborska, posted below.

Our prompt was: “Write your own classified.”

Participants are warmly encouraged to share what you wrote below (“Leave a Reply”), to keep the conversation going here, bearing in mind that the blog of course is a public space where confidentiality is not assured.

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Please join us for our next session Friday September 19th at 12pm EDT, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions.

Classifieds by Wislawa Szymborska

WHOEVER'S found out what location
compassion (heart's imagination)
can be contacted at these days,
is herewith urged to name the place;
and sing about it in full voice,
and dance like crazy and rejoice
beneath the frail birch that appears
to be upon the verge of tears.

I TEACH silence
in all languages
through intensive examination of:
the starry sky,
the Sinanthropus' jaws,
a grasshopper's hop,
an infant's fingernails,
plankton,
a snowflake.

I RESTORE lost love.
Act now! Special offer!
You lie on last year's grass
bathed in sunlight to the chin
while winds of summers past
caress your hair and seem
to lead you in a dance.
For further details, write: "Dream."

WANTED: someone to mourn
the elderly who die
alone in old folks' homes.
Applicants, don't send forms
or birth certificates.
All papers will be torn,
no receipts will be issued
at this or later dates.

FOR PROMISES made by my spouse,
who's tricked so many with his sweet
colors and fragrances and sounds --
dogs barking, guitars in the streets --
into believing that they still
might conquer loneliness and fright,
I cannot be responsible.
Mr. Day's widow, Mrs. Night.

Credit: Wislawa Szymborska
English version by Clare Cavanagh and Stanislaw Baranczak
Original Language Polish
poetry-chaikhana.com

10 thoughts on “Live Virtual Group Session: 6PM EDT September 10th 2025”

  1. Trevor Hebert's avatar Trevor Hebert

    Wanted –

    Sunny days, warm nights.

    Searching for the one who’s right

    Filled with cozy smiles and tight hugs.

    A leader like I, to walk not in front nor behind, but beside.

    To hold my hand in high demand, so close

    To watch the world unfurl in front of our very eyes and catch the beautiful strands of shimmering threads, the destiny we shall provide.

    To show real, true love:

    In it’s fiery passion, arguements freely spoken, emotion and devotion are just the same vein as reciprocation and unconditional…

    A love I’ve never had.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  2. Elizabeth's avatar Elizabeth

    WANTED

    Someone to handle the current world situation.

    No experience needed (like so many in power),

    But just to have lived life with integrity and compassion.

    Warmongers and racists need not apply.

    Salary to be discussed, but rest assured it will be priceless.

    Like

    Reply
  3. Trevor Hebert's avatar Trevor Hebert

    Wanted –

    Sunny days, warm nights.

    Searching for the one who’s right

    Filled with cozy smiles and tight hugs.

    A leader like I:

    To walk not in front nor behind, but beside.

    To hold my hand in high demand, so close

    To watch the world unfurl in front of our very eyes and catch the beautiful strands of shimmering threads, the destiny we shall provide.

    To show real, true love:

    In it’s fiery passion, arguements freely spoken, emotion and devotion are just the same vein as reciprocal and unconditional…

    A love I’ve never had.

    Like

    Reply
  4. teenagefest8f765cf582's avatar teenagefest8f765cf582

    What we read in the moment
    From the basement in front of the computer screen
    Job in the background still crunching the numbers analyzing the data
    Gets changed. It’s changed by me, by you, by Corina in England and Dinah in the middle of Michigan in a cabin on the lake.
    And all of them.
    The meaning moves, like the language that has changed over time, evolving just as we got little bits more of the story
    Lit bits more of the evidence, little bits more of who we are or might be.
    They didn’t know, this Sinanthropus that they were or would be Homo Erectus.
    Does it matter?
    We get a little bit more, a little more evidence, a little more insight when we pause upon one another’s shores.
    Listening for the twinkling sounds, the tapping of the keys
    The words dashed into the chat
    The brave voices daring to break the silence.
    Wanted: people who show up and care.

    Like

    Reply
  5. michele348's avatar michele348

    Writing my own classified~~~

    LOOKING for a place out in the countryside,
    where the sugar maple branches
    wave gently in the autumn breeze
    and the sweet scents of lilac
    and lavender linger in the air.

    I seek a community where my neighbors
    possess compassionate hearts
    and are always willing to
    lend a helping hand.

    A place where no harsh words are spoken…
    if there isn’t a kind word to be said,
    a moment of silence is observed instead.

    I desire a sense of community,
    a feeling of belonging.
    In this place, there is unity among all people,
    with skin tones of every hue and a
    variety of native tongues,
    yet surprisingly,
    where we all understand each other…
    no translator need apply.

    I am searching for this special place of peace and harmony,
    where life is filled with joy and fulfillment.
    Please respond…I’m waiting for your reply.

    Like

    Reply

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