Pressing Pause for Poetry: Richard Newman

You may have heard the phrase in this movie...

As often happens for me, this poem came into to my inbox from American Life in Poetry last week, and I totally fell in love. Not only is it hysterical--pointing out the ridiculousness of the southern phrase "bless their hearts--" but it's also really, really clever and perfect to share this week (since Thanksgiving is just around the corner). Enjoy! I hope it makes you smile as much as it does me. You can read more about the poet, Richard Newman, here.

Bless Their Hearts

At Steak ‘n Shake I learned that if you add
“Bless their hearts” after their names, you can say
whatever you want about them and it’s OK.
My son, bless his heart, is an idiot,
she said. He rents storage space for his kids’
toys—they’re only one and three years old!
I said, my father, bless his heart, has turned
into a sentimental old fool. He gets
weepy when he hears my daughter’s greeting
on our voice mail. Before our Steakburgers came
someone else blessed her office mate’s heart,
then, as an afterthought, the jealous hearts
of the entire anthropology department.
We bestowed blessings on many a heart
that day. I even blessed my ex-wife’s heart.
Our waiter, bless his heart, would not be getting
much tip, for which, no doubt, he’d bless our hearts.
In a week it would be Thanksgiving,
and we would each sit with our respective
families, counting our blessings and blessing
the hearts of family members as only family
does best. Oh, bless us all, yes, bless us, please
bless us and bless our crummy little hearts.

Isn't that just great? At least for those of you from the South--you should definitely get it :)

Thanks for checking in and pressing pause with me today!

Namaste,
Mary Catherine

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