"Hoop of Time"
at Better than Starbucks... HERE.
Because you're in dire need of a poem.
Monday, February 01, 2021
7 comments:
Alas, I must once again remind large numbers of Chinese salesmen and other worldwide peddlers that if they fall into the Gulf of Spam, they will be eaten by roaming Balrogs. The rest of you, lovers of grace, poetry, and horses (nod to Yeats--you do not have to be fond of horses), feel free to leave fascinating missives and curious arguments.
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Clever scanning in Prayer:
ReplyDeleteMalaria - Ebola - Aids
Just as long as you know the stress lands on Ebola's second syllable.
Long after the parade passed by I discovered Louise Glück (Pretty good winning a Nobel with a surname like that; heavily dependent on how it translates from the German). She's real sparing with words, as parsimonious as a native of Mytholmroyd (West Riding) or Gorbals (Glasgow suburb). But not always. Poems 1962 - 2012 has 634 pages so it provides a fair slice of her oeuvre - a word I suspect she wouldn't use.
I wanted to pick a quote for you, knowing - of course - it would be like bringing coals to Newcastle. Too much choice, all of it seemingly dry and compressed, juicy on a second reading. Found one about praying which charmed me (Strange, you say) so perhaps I'm catching the bug. Now I can't re-find it. Here's one that swings:
I was born cautious, under the sign of Taurus.
I grew up on an island, prosperous,
in the second half of the twentieth century;
the shadow of the Holocaust
hardly touched us.
Re-read it and found it was an object lesson in punctuation. Awful thought: am I betraying Auden with this newly developed ecumenicism? Comforted myself with a well-worn muffler: in my father's house are many mansions. Meaning places where one may be comfortable.
Here's the first verse I ever wrote:
Hope springs eternal in the breast,
This saying applies to mine,
All other cares from my heart you'll wrest
If you'll be my Valentine
I was about 14. A month later I felt terribly ashamed of "wrest". Now I'm ashamed I can't remember who the recipient was. Pam, perhaps.
What?
ReplyDeleteOh, the McGuffin poem! I had not read him before, I think. You frightened me for a moment. I do tend to forget what I write but felt fairly sure the words malaria and ebola and AIDS had not appeared in a poem of mine.
Love your teen Valentine... Perhaps the memory of the recipient will come back to you. Though I prefer not to think hard about those years.
Auden vs. Glück, Glück vs. Auden. Which one will win out and be your Valentine?
Donta gotta no jot.
ReplyDeleteWassamataU, Vinny?
Inma froma near d'New Joisey!
God blessa youse -Fr. Sarducci
Gotta gobba lotta vivid nada...
ReplyDeleteincluding wurdz.
Dunno. Dijoo wannum??
--> en.gravatar.com/MatteBlk <--
GBY
...including THERMONUCLEAR wurdz, dear
DeleteHeeHee
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked'm.
Wanna RITE summore Upstairs, dear?
We have the length N breadth of eternity.
tok2me in the Great Beyond, beautiful girly
Perhaps you should read my most recent book and then write me if you think me still in need.
ReplyDelete