Associate poetry editor Abby LaForest on today’s poem: Robin Arble’s “John Coltrane: My Favorite Things (Live in Japan, 1966)” is a poem that brings readers to its knees with the sheer joy of what it means to be alive. Each snapshot is a moment documented through the lens of love, care, and affection, with Arble weaving seemingly isolated images into a bright tapestry of one’s life lived well. The poem’s voice is weighty and solid as if grounding readers to the earth and simultaneously encouraging us to see each green of March, art museum, and moment with friends through boundless, grateful eyes. “John Coltrane: My Favorite Things (Live in Japan, 1966)” is nothing short of an encouragement from Arble for us to continue living, one that shows us how to exhale the breath of life from each detail comprising our day-to-day.

Click here to listen to the live recording of “My Favorite Things” by John Coltrane.

John Coltrane: My Favorite Things (Live in Japan, 1966)

I love Walter Benjamin and both Coltranes.
Not at the same time. I love them completely,

with my whole body. I love summery air and summer nights.
I love March because it’s green and I was born here.

I love the garden I water and weed in my mind
as I sleep. I love every bruise in my childhood.

I love filling my life with good books. Oh, all kinds.
Poems, novels, conversations. Walking through galleries

and art museums. Seeing a good movie twice and crying
at the same parts. Sitting on a park bench and listening.

I love my friends. I can feel each and every one of them
if I close my eyes and just think about laughter. Oh my God,

I love waking up. I’m so grateful I get to be here at all.
I love this feeling that God is in everything, but only

everything. I love how completely this feeling suits me.
I love that I decided to live. I love that I decided to live.

Of course I love myself. I love my transsexual body.
I’m so in love with you. I love you with my whole life.

Robin’s poems have appeared in beestung, Impossible Task, Midway Journal, Poetry Online, and Up The Staircase Quarterly, among others. She studied literature and creative writing at Hampshire College and lives in western Massachusetts.

If you would like to leave this author a tip, you can find their Cash App at https://linktr.ee/arblerobin.