Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to build a reading habit by tackling
Speaker 1: a poem a day. Poems tend to be short, but
Speaker 1: can take you to amazing places, and so can help
Speaker 1: you find space and life for a little bit of beauty.
Speaker 1: As I've talked to people about their schedules over the years,
Speaker 1: I've learned that many people want to find more time
Speaker 1: to read along with volunteering and exercising. Reading is something
Speaker 1: that we know would improve our lives, but when life
Speaker 1: gets busy, it's easy to let it go, and once
Speaker 1: you let it go, getting back in the habit can
Speaker 1: seem intimidating. Most books demand at least a few hours
Speaker 1: of time, and reading in little bits might not be
Speaker 1: very satisfying. Hence the beauty of poems. Unless you're reading T. S.
Speaker 1: Eliott's The Waste Land, most poems are relatively short. You
Speaker 1: can easily borrow e books of poetry from your library
Speaker 1: through an app like Libby, and then read through them
Speaker 1: on the Kindle app, or you can go to a
Speaker 1: website such as poets dot org or Poetry Foundation dot
Speaker 1: org and find poems selected by their editors. In any case,
Speaker 1: you can get free poems on your phone quickly, and
Speaker 1: I am guessing that you always have your phone nearby
Speaker 1: and for the cause of building a poetry reading habit,
Speaker 1: this is actually a good thing. Notice when you pick
Speaker 1: up your phone, what do you do? Many people check
Speaker 1: texts or emails first and then look at social media apps.
Speaker 1: As you find yourself doing this, consciously click to the
Speaker 1: poetry website or your e reader instead. In about three minutes,
Speaker 1: you can read a poem, a whole poem, which will
Speaker 1: give you at least some feeling of accomplishment whatever else
Speaker 1: you did or didn't do during the day. You are
Speaker 1: the sort of person who reads poetry. Now, of course,
Speaker 1: some poems are better than others. I've read through volumes
Speaker 1: from some of my favorite poets like Mary Oliver or
Speaker 1: Billy Collins, or classic poets such as Emily Dickinson, and
Speaker 1: sometimes stuff is awesome, and sometimes even with the vasters,
Speaker 1: it doesn't always speak to us. But poems do have
Speaker 1: a way of going places that pros can't always follow.
Speaker 1: Done well, a poem can conjure up an image and
Speaker 1: a feeling. You can ponder that image and feeling as
Speaker 1: you go about your day. That image and feeling can
Speaker 1: take you outside your life for a few minutes and
Speaker 1: elevate your experience, putting a little beauty into the moment.
Speaker 1: Not bad for three minutes, right, And as you find
Speaker 1: yourself finding three minutes here and there, you'll start to
Speaker 1: see that you do, in fact have time to read.
Speaker 1: You just have to choose to do so. And so
Speaker 1: poetry can become a gateway to literature of all kinds.
Speaker 1: So today, find some poetry, put it where you can
Speaker 1: read it, and if nothing else, you'll end the day
Speaker 1: feeling like you've put something a little special into your life.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod
Speaker 1: that's b E the number four then breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: Podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from
Speaker 1: i heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.