{"id":6074,"date":"2018-04-25T07:14:23","date_gmt":"2018-04-25T14:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=6074"},"modified":"2018-04-25T07:14:23","modified_gmt":"2018-04-25T14:14:23","slug":"philip-booth-first-lesson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/25\/philip-booth-first-lesson\/","title":{"rendered":"Philip Booth – First Lesson"},"content":{"rendered":"

First Lesson
\nby Philip Booth<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Lie back daughter, let your head
\nbe tipped back in the cup of my hand.
\nGently, and I will hold you. Spread
\nyour arms wide, lie out on the stream
\nand look high at the gulls. A dead-
\nman\u2019s float is face down. You will dive
\nand swim soon enough where this tidewater
\nebbs to the sea. Daughter, believe
\nme, when you tire on the long thrash
\nto your island, lie up, and survive.
\nAs you float now, where I held you
\nand let go, remember when fear
\ncramps your heart what I told you:
\nlie gently and wide to the light-year
\nstars, lie back, and the sea will hold you.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from Lifelines: Selected Poems 1950-1999<\/a>, by Philip Booth<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by Vassilis<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

A father teaching his daughter to swim. The first lesson, how to float. He cradles her head in his hands and tells her to spread her arms and relax, looking up at the sky.<\/p>\n

Very quickly this becomes a metaphor for life. Soon she will swim confidently. But it is a long effort to reach her \u201cisland.\u201d When exhaustion inevitably sets in and fear seizes the heart, that first lesson comes back: rather than struggle, just rest, trust, lean back, float. Watch the stars.<\/p>\n

the sea will hold you.<\/i><\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Philip Booth<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lifelines: Selected Poems 1950-1999<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\n
\n\"Philip<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nPhilip Booth<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

US (1925 \u2013 2007) Timeline<\/a>
\nSecular or Eclectic<\/a><\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n

<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

More poetry by Philip Booth<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First Lesson by Philip Booth Lie back daughter, let your head be tipped back in the cup of my hand. Gently, and I will hold you. Spread your arms wide, lie out on the stream and look high at the gulls. A dead- man\u2019s float is face down. You will dive and swim soon enough […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2160,2159,2158,2145,2157],"class_list":["post-6074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-father-and-daughter","tag-float","tag-learning-to-swim","tag-philip-booth","tag-swim-lesson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6074"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6075,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6074\/revisions\/6075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}