Two Sylvias' Weekly Muse: February 12, 2023

Issue 42

Hello Writers, Poets, and Creatives!

We came across a wonderful poem collaboration project that took place last April. Poet and essayist, Danusha Laméris, published a poem in the New York Times Magazine titled “Small Kindnesses,” in which she celebrates the small acts of graciousness that we encounter—a stranger saying “bless you” when you sneeze, a waitress warmly calling you “honey,” a slow truck pulling over so that you can pass. Laméris, in conjunction with the New York Times Magazine, asked teenagers to read her poem, “Small Kindnesses,” and then invited them to respond to this question: “What small kindnesses do you appreciate?”

The response was overwhelming. More than 1,300 teens wrote to Laméris, describing and detailing the small gestures that made them feel grateful—in class, at play, in stores, at home, on the internet, at work, in restaurants, etc.

Laméris assembled some of these responses into a collaborative poem with very few changes to the teens’ original statements. Refl…