tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90504213046024136612024-02-08T07:20:02.700-08:00Poem-PairsJoel Thomas Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01038366206601829197noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050421304602413661.post-53065693887427669982016-11-21T13:23:00.001-08:002016-11-21T13:23:27.643-08:00<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Noelle Kocot: Making Every Word Count</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
reader’s experience of a poem can be affected by its line-lengths. In general,
the shorter a poem’s overall line-length, the more a reader will need to slow
down their processing of the poem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> First some examples, then we’ll explore why
this might be the case.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner (Randall Jarrell)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">From my mother’s sleep I fell into the
State,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur
froze.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Six miles from earth, loosed from its
dream of life,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I woke to black flak and the nightmare
fighters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">When I died they washed me out of the
turret with a hose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">(from <i>Randall Jarrell: Selected Poems</i>, edited
by William H. Pritchard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> New York, 1990: Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
page 12)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Here
we see a fairly constant visual length to the lines, and when read aloud, each
line takes the same noticeable time to say.
So the lines have a palpable presence, whether visual or aural. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Another
feature of this poem is that each phrase or thought finishes at the end of the
physical line. The technical term for this is </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">end-stopped lines</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">, because the end of the thought coincides with
the end of the printed line.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Here’s
another example of long lines: the opening stanza of C. K. Williams’s poem <i>Ice</i> as originally printed in his <i>Collected Poems</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 1.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Ice (C. K.
Williams)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">That astonishing thing that happens when
you crack a needle-awl into a <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">block of ice:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">the way a perfect section through it
crazes into gleaming fault-lines, frac-<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">tures, facets;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">dazzling silvery deltas that in one
too-quick-to-capture instant madly <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">complicate the cosmos
with its innards.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Radiant now with spines and spikes,
aggressive barbs of glittering light, a <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">treasure hoard of
light,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">when you stab it again it comes apart in nearly
equal segments, both <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">faces grainy, gnawed
at, dull.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">(from <i>C. K. Williams: Collected Poems</i>. New
York, 1990: Farrar, Straus<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> and Giroux, page 487)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
poem’s lines are so capacious that when printed in a book, a given line needs
to wrap around before the next one begins. Once again, the lines are
end-stopped: the end of a thought coincides </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">with the end of each line (ignoring
those wrap-arounds from physical printing constraints).</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Let’s
now move toward the other end of the line-length spectrum. Here is the first section
of another C.K. Williams poem. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Night
(C. K. Williams)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">
1.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Somehow a light plane <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">coming in low at three<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">in the morning to a local airstrip<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">hits a complex of tones<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">in its growl so I hear mingled<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">with it a peal of church bells,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">swelling in and out<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">of auditability, arrhythmic,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">but rich and insistent, then,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">though I try to hold them,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">they dissolve, fade away;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">only that monochrome<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">drone bores on<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">alone through the dark.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">(from <i>C. K. Williams: Collected Poems</i>. New
York, 1990: Farrar, Straus<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> and Giroux, page 608)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
lines here are noticeably shorter and each contains three major beats. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Unlike
the previous examples, this poem’s lines are not always end-stopped: sometimes </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">a
phrase flows immediately into the following line (a feature called </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">enjambment</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">).</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Here’s
what Williams did <i>not</i> write:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Somehow a light plane coming in low
at three in the morning to a local airstrip<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> hits a complex of tones in its growl<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> so I hear mingled with it a peal of
church bells <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">swelling in and out of auditability,
arrhythmic, but rich and insistent,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">then, though I try to hold them,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">they dissolve, fade away;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">only their monochrome drone bores on alone
through the dark.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">By
staging the event as three-beat lines, the original version takes the reader
more time to physically process what’s printed on the page. This enables an
inherently short event to expand in perceived duration so that the poem’s
various facets have more of an opportunity to register with the reader. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">What
might account for this slowing down of time and focus?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Culturally,
we are accustomed to lots of information residing in a horizontal line—think of
the typically wide paragraphs in books, magazines, emails, etc. So when a poem
has a short overall line-length, the pace of information disclosure is
noticeably slower. In addition, we are used to visually gleaning as much
information as we can from each horizontal line, rather than incrementally
building our understanding as we move vertically through a series of short
lines. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">We
will now consider two extreme examples of this “line-length controls the
reader’s processing of a poem” phenomenon. Both of them come from the book <i>Phantom Pains of Madness </i>(2016) by
Noelle Kocot (KOH-cut). Each of its poems is structured as a series of
single-word lines which are capitalized, and each poem is un-punctuated. First,
here is Kocot’s poem “In Sickness”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Look<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">At<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">How
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">That
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Juice
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Squeezes
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Itself <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Into<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">That<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Glass <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Over <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">There <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">How<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Indulge
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Our
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Caresses
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Until <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Train<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Helps <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Us <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">To <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Rest
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">By<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Simply<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Speeding<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Off <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Without<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Us</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">(“In Sickness” from <i>Phantom Pains of Madness </i>by Noelle Kocot. Seattle and New York, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">2016: Wave Books, pages 94-95)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Given
the poem’s architectural constraints, no single line (word) is privileged. And
because we are in effect reading the poem one word at a time, we are
constructing an ongoing provisional understanding of the poem which is subject
to elaboration and/or correction as we proceed. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Visually
speaking, the poem makes each word count.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Ignoring
for now the poem’s title “In Sickness”, the reader is initially asked to focus
on some juice which squeezes <i>itself</i> (surprise!)
into a glass, rather than by some human being’s involvement. This is our
provisional understanding. But given the non-appearance of a human agent, the
verb “squeeze” might mean that the juice fits within a narrow confined space
(“let me squeeze into these new shoes”), rather than a piece of fruit being
compressed to release its juice. At any
rate, the glass is “Over There” at some
remove, rather than being right here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Continuing:
“And How We (who?)
<i>Indulge </i>(surprise!) In
Our <i>Caresses </i>(surprise!)” until something else happens—“The “Train
<i>Helps</i> <i>Us</i> (surprise!)”
to do something, namely, “<i>Rest</i>
(surprise!)” because the train speeds off “<i>Without Us</i> (surprise!)” .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">How
does this unexpected state of affairs relate to the poem’s title “In Sickness”?
Is the speaker sharing some events while in a state of physical and/or
psychological sickness? Or does the sickness somehow stem from the train
“Simply Speeding Off
Without Us” and leaving “Us”
(never identified) behind? Unlike arithmetic, there is no one correct answer,
and the poem leaves open various alternatives for the reader. These
possibilities are available because the reader experiences the universe of the
poem word-by-word, as an ongoing understanding gets created.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Another
significant aspect of the poem’s restrictive architecture: because each line is
a single word, the reader may notice that some words are longer than others. Most
are single syllables, although some of them have two syllables (Itself,
Indulge, Speeding, Without). There’s only one instance of a three-syllable word
(Caresses). The focus on individual words of noticeably different length allows
the poem to subtly employ different levels of emphasis, which in turn drives the
instances of surprise which we’ve noted above. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
particular, it is the visually longer words which are unexpected, given the poem’s
deliberately slow-paced revelation of facts. Consider the following details, in
which I’ve italicized specific words:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“(Look
At How That
Juice) <i>Squeezes Itself</i>” . . . (How
We) <i>Indulge</i> (In Our)
<i>Caresses </i> (Until
The Train Helps
Us To Rest
By) <i>Simply Speeding </i> (Off)
<i>Without</i> (Us)”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Now
suppose the poem were re-lineated as follows:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Look at how the juice squeezes itself<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">into the glass over there<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">and how we indulge in our caresses<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">until the train helps us to rest<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">by simply speeding off without us<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
this variant (which does not preserve the original’s capitalizations), much of
the surprise has evaporated because the reader’s eyes are taking in a wide
clump of words in each line. The ingredients of the poem are not released over
time in the same discovery-laden manner as in the original.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Having
examined the first item in our Noelle Kocot poem-pair, we now turn to a poem which
presents the slow-pacing reader with an additional challenge: to become a
co-creator. Let’s first visually scan the entire poem, then return to give it a
closer reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">
<b>( ___ )<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> The<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Day<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Starts<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Out<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Like<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> A<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> ( ___ )<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> For <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Breakfast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> We <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Have <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> ( ___ )<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> And<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> For<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Lunch<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> We<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Have
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> ( ___ )<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> The<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Inchoate<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Jesting<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Tongue<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Survives<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Like<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> The<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Truth<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> That<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Churns<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> In <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Our<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Stomachs<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Doubt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> And<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> ( ___ )<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Fill<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Our<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Awareness<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> No<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> We<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Are<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Not<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Buried<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> In<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Our<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Graves<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> But<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> The<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Fish<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Still<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Stinks<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Like<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> ( ___ )<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> A<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Future<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Full<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Of<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Holes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> The<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Intonations<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Of<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Hair<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Sweeping<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> The<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Grass<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> We<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Are<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> ( ___ )<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Like<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> The<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Word<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> ( ___ )<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Swaying<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> On<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Its<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Precious<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Stem<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">(from <i>Phantom
Pains of Madness </i>by Noelle Kocot. Seattle and New York, 2016: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Wave Books, pages
54-57)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
first thing we notice is that the title and several words within the body of
the poem are not fully specified: “( ___ )”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Those
“fill-in-the-blank” words are possibly nouns, possibly not. The title could be
any single word. And there is variety in the seven blanks within the poem’s
body:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Blanks
#1-3 and #5 are sentence-final<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Blank
#4 is the first noun of a compound subject: “Doubt And
( ___ )”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Blank
#6 is an equation—“We Are ( ___ )”—which is a more semantically open
possibility. Is the non-specified word a noun (say, soldiers) or an adjective
(say, independent)?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Blank
#7 “Like The Word (___)” could be any part of speech (noun,
verb, adjective, whatever).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">So
we are working here with different flavors of indeterminacy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Given
the reader-supplied missing words, what might the title be? That can only be
determined once the reader traverses the entire poem and mentally fills in
those blanks. So the title gets determined retrospectively, unlike the usual
situation in which a poem’s title appears at the top and sets the stage for the
body of the poem. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
tantalizing implication here is that the poem is never experienced the same
twice: </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">each
traversal will involve a different set of user-supplied values, and thus a
different notion </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">of
a user-supplied title. The choice of this particular poem’s structure enlarges
the number of possibilities, rather than limiting it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Looking
next at the length of the single words which <i>do</i> appear, we find once again that the longer words involve a sense
of surprise. The following schematic highlights some of those unexpected words
(italicized):<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">. . . The
<i>Inchoate</i> Jesting
Tongue <i>Survives</i> . . . And ( ___
) Fills Our <i>Awareness</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">. . . The
<i>Intonations</i> of
Hair <i>Sweeping</i> The Grass<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">. . . Like The
Word ( ___ ) <i>Swaying</i> On
Its <i>Precious</i> Stem<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Lest
we think that Kocot’s one-word-per-line poetic technique is applicable only to
longer poems, let’s look at a “bonus poem”: the final one to appear in Kocot’s
book, entitled “Opportunity” —<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Light<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Green<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Bug<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Hopping<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">From<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Word<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Into<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Sun<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">(“Opportunity” from <i>Phantom Pains of Madness </i>by Noelle Kocot. Seattle and New York,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> 2016: Wave Books, page 120)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">This
particular poem’s brief images have a haiku-like feeling. It also has a layout
on the page similar to that of a native Japanese haiku, which is traditionally written
in a single vertical line of </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">17
metric pulses (Kanji ideograms plus Hiragana grammatical markers), as opposed
to the English-language haiku tradition of three lines with 5-7-5 syllables,
respectively.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">As
in Kocot’s longer poems above, the “single-word line” technique in this brief
poem allows for a slowed-down pace of information disclosure. The visually
longest word (Hopping) sits at the exact center of the poem. And we encounter
surprise when we reach “Word” and “Sun”: the bug hops from a conceptual
construct (Word) into physical reality—“Sun” meaning either sunlight itself or jumping
up to the actual physical object in the sky.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Once
again, Kocot’s approach to a poem’s architecture makes each word count. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Joel Thomas Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01038366206601829197noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050421304602413661.post-35112773448014017592016-09-19T16:51:00.001-07:002016-09-19T16:51:47.514-07:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b style="text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Translation, Modeling and Elaboration</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b style="text-indent: 48px;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
the previous installment of Poem-Pairs, we looked at two differing outcomes
when a German poem of Rilke (“Herbsttag”) gets translated into English.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Today
we’ll examine how a Spanish poem by the Peruvian poet César Vallejo serves as
the basis for a new yet related poem in English by Donald Justice, rather than the
latter being merely a translation of the original. Which elements from the Vallejo
find their way into the Justice poem, and which do not? What new material
appears in the English poem? And what does the English poem, modeled on the
Spanish one, tell us about the sensibilities of the American poet Donald
Justice?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Here’s the poem in the original Spanish,
followed by an English translation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Piedra Negra Sobre una Piedra Blanca (César Vallejo)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">
Me moriré en París con aguacero,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">un día del cual tengo ya el recuerdo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Me moriré en París —yo no me corro—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">talvez un jueves, como es hoy, de otoño.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">
Jueves sera, porque hoy, jueves, que proso<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">estos versos, los húmeros me he puesto<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">a la mala y, jamás como hoy, me he vuelto,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">con todo mi camino, a verme solo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">
Jueves sera, porque hoy, jueves, que proso<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">estos versos, los húmeros me he puesto<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">a la mala y, jamós como hoy, me he vuelto,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">con todo mi camino, a verme solo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">
César Vallejo ha muerto, le pegaban<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">todos sin que él les haga hada;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">le daban duro con un palo y duro<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> también
con una soga; son testigos<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">los días jueves y los huesos húmeros,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">la soledad, la lluvia, los caminos . . .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Black Stone on a White Stone (César Vallejo)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> I
will die in Paris in a downpour,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">a day which I can already remember.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I will die in Paris—and I don’t budge—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">maybe a Thursday, like today, in autumn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">
Thursday it will be, because today, Thursday, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">as I prose these lines, I have forced on<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">my humeri and, never like today, have I
turned,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">with all my journey, to see myself alone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">
César Vallejo has died, they beat him,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">all of them, without him doing anything to
them;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">they gave it to him hard, with a stick and
hard<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">
likewise with a rope; witnesses are<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">the Thursdays and the humerus bones,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">the loneliness, the rain, the roads . . .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">(from </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">César Vallejo, The Complete Poetry: A
Bilingual Edition. </i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">Edited and </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">translated by Clayton Eshelman. Berkeley
and Los Angeles, 2007: University </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">of California Press, pages 380-381)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
now for the Donald Justice poem:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Variations on a Text by Vallejo (Donald Justice)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 1.5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Me
moriré en París con aguacero . . .<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I will die in Miami in the sun,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">On a day when the sun is very bright,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">A day like the days I remember, a day like
other days,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">A day that nobody knows or remembers
yet, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And the sun will be bright then on the
dark glasses of strangers<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And in the eyes of the few friends from my
childhood<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And of the surviving cousins by the
graveside,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">While the diggers, standing apart, in the
still shade of the palms,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Rest on their shovels, and smoke,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Speaking in Spanish softly, out of
respect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I think it will be on a Sunday like today,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Except that the sun will be out, the rain
will have stopped,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And the wind that today made all the
little shrubs kneel down;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And I think it will be a Sunday because
today,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">When I took out this paper and began to
write,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Never before had anything looked so blank,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">My life, these words, the paper, the gray
Sunday;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And my dog, quivering under a table
because of the storm,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Looked up at me, not understanding,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And my son read on without speaking, and
my wife slept.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Donald Justice is dead. One Sunday the sun
came out,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It shone on the bay, it shone on the white
buildings,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The cars moved down the street slowly as
always, so many,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Some with their headlights on</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in spite of the
sun, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And after a while the diggers with their
shovels<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Walked back to the graveside through the
sunlight,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And one of them put his blade into the
earth<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">To lift a few clods of dirt, the black
marl of Miami,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And scattered the dirt, and spat,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Turning away abruptly, out of respect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"> (from </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">Donald Justice: Collected Poems. </i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">New York,
2005: Alfred A. Knopf, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">pages 158-159)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
chemistry, an "analog" is a structural derivative of a parent compound. Given the
subtle yet noticeable differences between the Vallejo original and Justice’s
poem, we could say that the latter is a personalized analog of the Spanish
poem. Justice revisits and elaborates upon Vallejo’s model. Indeed, Justice’s
title “<i>Variations</i> on a Text of
Vallejo” (emphasis mine) reminds us of the theme-and-variation tradition in
classical music. This is not surprising, given that Justice was an accomplished
musician as well as a poet, and that his poems often explore musical moments
and events. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">We
should first note some similarities between the two poems. The Vallejo is
structured as a 14-line sonnet (4-4-3-3-), which is an established poetic form.
A detectable form is also operative in <i>Variations</i>:
three 10-line stanzas in which the ending words repeat the same short-e vowel
and final-t sound (respěcT, slěpT, respěcT). In both poems, the opening stanza declares
that the speaker will die on a particular day of the week in a particular city
with particular weather. The middle sections talk about the conditions under
which the actual lines of the poem get created, and the final section announces
the death of the speaker and its circumstances.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">More
telling than the similarities are the differences between the two poems. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In
the first stanza, Vallejo’s speaker will die in the romantic city of rainy
Paris, while Justice’s speaker will die on a bright sunny day in Miami (the city
where Justice was born and grew up). While Vallejo “can already remember” the
type of day on which his death will occur, Justice focuses on the fact that
others neither remember nor foresee the (type of) day on which he will die. Then
comes Justice’s first instance of elaboration upon the Vallejo model: his death
will occur on a day when “the sun will be bright then on the glasses of
strangers” as well as in the eyes of a handful of survivors. (This stands in
contrast to the speaker’s </span>solitary<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> state in the Vallejo poem.) Justice then
offers a tip of the hat to Vallejo by mentioning the gravediggers resting on
their shovels in the shade and smoking, “Speaking in Spanish softly, out of
respect.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Justice’s
second stanza differs from the Vallejo model by stating that death will occur
on a sunny Sunday (not Vallejo’s mid-week Thursday), which, unlike today, will
not be a rainy and windy Sunday. Justice then adds a poetic detail: “And the
wind today that made all the little shrubs kneel down” as if in prayerful
reverence for the dead. Where Vallejo says that his poem’s lines come from a
day unlike today on which he sees himself alone, Justice writes his poem from a
place where “My life, these words, the paper, the gray Sunday” never looked so
blank—and yet</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Justice
is not alone: his uncomprehending dog, his son busy reading, and his wife
asleep are also present though separate from that moment of the speaker’s
experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Where
Vallejo’s final two stanzas recount his loneliness and suffering at the hands
of others for no </span>discernible<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> reason, Justice’s final stanza takes the
opportunity to once again elaborate on Vallejo’s model: Justice does not die in
solitude, but rather in the presence of the sun shining on the bay, plus a
procession of cars “Some with their headlights on” (a funeral procession), plus
a reappearance of those gravediggers. Unlike Vallejo’s reported rough treatment
at the hands of others, one of Justice’s gravediggers “put his blade . .
.” (shades of Vallejo’s sticks and ropes!)
“. . .into the earth/ To [merely] lift a few clods of dirt, the black marl of
Miami, / And scattered the dirt . . .” . And whereas Vallejo feels humiliated
by how others treat him, Justice subverts that impulse by deftly stating that
when </span></span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">his</i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> gravedigger spat, it was not
out of disdain but rather after “turning away abruptly, out of respect”—with
the same respect those gravediggers had displayed at the end of the first
stanza by “Speaking in Spanish softly . . .”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">So,
what does the English poem, modeled on Vallejo’s Spanish original, tell us
about Justice, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">whose
output has been described as </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">meticulous,
careful, exacting</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">? The understated flavor of his diction and his restraint
allows Justice to pay homage to Vallejo’s model poem while at the same time allowing
for a personal exploration and elaboration of his own sentiments.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m
thinking here of Beethoven’s many pieces in the Theme&Variations form: the listening
pleasure stems from the originality of the variations relative to the opening
theme. Taking his <i><span style="background: white;">33<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>Variations</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i>for piano, there seems to
be no end to Beethoven’s inventiveness and variety. In some sense, we feel we
know more about Beethoven than about Diabelli.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">So
we might ask: “After reading their two poems, who do we feel we know
better—Vallejo or Justice?” Whatever the answer, it is clear that Justice is a
master of using modeling and variation as a vehicle for his own </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">creativity
and expressiveness.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Joel Thomas Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01038366206601829197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050421304602413661.post-8662091483347359482016-08-08T19:00:00.000-07:002016-08-08T19:05:43.065-07:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Translations: Take One, Take Two<o:p></o:p></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> The Poem-Pairs blog awakens from a long
hibernation to consider what happens when a poem gets translated into another
language. In this case, the poem is Rilke’s “Herbsttag” (Autumn Day). Here is
the original German: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <b>Herbsttag<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Herr:
es ist Zeit. Der Sommer was sehr gross.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Leg
deinen Schatten auf die Sonnenuhren,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">und
auf den Fluren lass die Winde los.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Befiehl
den letzten Fruechten voll zu sein;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">gieb
ihnen noch zwei suedlichere Tage,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">draenge
sie zur Vollendung hin und jage<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">die
letzte Suesse in den schweren Wein.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Wer
jetzt kein Haus hat, baut sich keines mehr.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Wer
jetzt allein ist, wird es lange bleiben,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">wird
wachen, lesen, lange Briefe schreiben<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">und
wird in den Alleen hin und her<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">unruhig
wandern, wenn die Blaetter treiben.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And here is the first of two translations into
English: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <b>Autumn Day<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Lord:
it is time. The summer was so immense.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Lay
your shadow on the sundials,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">and
let loose the wind in the fields.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Bid
the last fruits to be full;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">give
them another two more southerly days,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">press
them to ripeness, and chase<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">the
last sweetness into the heavy wine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Whoever
has no house now will not build one anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Whoever
is alone now will remain so for a long time,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">will
stay up, read, write long letters,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">and
wander the avenues, up and down,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">restlessly,
while the leaves are blowing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> (from <i>The Essential Rilke: selected and translated by Galway Kinnell and
Hannah</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <i>Liebmann
(revised edition),</i> page 4, The Ecco Press, an imprint of HarperCollins <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Publishers, New York ©2000)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now that we know what the poem is about, we notice
that the German version has three stanzas of increasing length (3 then 4 then 5
lines). This structure has been preserved in the English translation. The
ever-increasing stanza-length embodies how the outcome of fullness in nature is
not necessarily mirrored in the lives of human beings: some will never build a
house and some will live alone, restless.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Yet the poem
itself has more to say. It is, after all, a prayer:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Lord:
it is time. The summer was so immense.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Lay
your shadow on the sundials,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">and
let loose the wind in the fields.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The speaker is petitioning for a successful harvest
because that outcome is not a foregone conclusion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> It is worth
noting that the Kinnell/Liebmann translation closely follows the German
original. But what about our second translation, by Jeredith Merrin?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <b>Late Harvest<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <i>after
Rilke’s Herbsttag<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Time, it is time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Summer
has been<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">long-stretched-out,
full.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Go
ahead, Fall:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">shrink
down the days<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">and
sugar the grapes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">for
late-harvest wine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Anyone
still unknown<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">to
herself will stay,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">probably,
that way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Anyone
unlinked by love<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">will
be love-<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">left-out
now—waking,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">mind
pacing<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">up
and down<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">up
and down,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">restless
as leaf-bits<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">and
papers in the street.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> (from
the <i>Poetry Daily </i>website “www.poems.com”,
October 15<sup>th</sup> 2009)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Is it really a <i>translation</i>?
And if so, to what extent is it faithful to the German original?</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> One clue is Merrin’s epigraph: “after Rilke’s
Herbsttag”. The Merrin version is modeled after the Rilke poem, yet it is a
personal re-interpretation or re-imagining which contains some subtle yet
striking differences from Rilke’s original. We initially notice that her two
skinny stanzas do not reflect the three-stanza structure of Rilke.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> In addition,
Merrin’s version selectively summarizes as well as expands on the Rilke text. Rilke’s
prayerful first and second stanza get conflated into a single Merrin first
stanza in which Time and the Fall season (rather than the Lord) are being
addressed:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Time, it is time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Summer
has been<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">long-stretched-out,
full.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Go
ahead, Fall:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">shrink
down the days<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">and
sugar the grapes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Lay
your shadow on the sundials,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">and
let loose the wind in the fields.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Those
hyphenated phrases “long-stretched-out” (ironic in view of Merrin’s skinny
stanzas) and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“late-harvest”
were perhaps the creative impetus for how Merrin transforms the images of
Rilke’s final stanza:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Anyone
still unknown<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">to
herself will stay,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">probably,
that way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Anyone
unlinked by love<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">will
be love-<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">left-out
now—waking,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">mind
pacing<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">up
and down<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">up
and down,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">restless
as leaf-bits<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">and
papers in the street.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Instead
of Rilke’s “whoever has no hours now will not build one anymore”, we find<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Anyone
still unknown<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">to
herself [surprise!] will stay,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">probably,
that way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And Rilke’s image <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Whoever
is alone now will remain so for a long time,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">will
stay up, read, write long letters,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">and
wander the avenues, up and down,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">while
the leaves are blowing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">gets transformed into <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Anyone
unlinked by love<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">will
be love-<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">left-out
now—waking,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">mind
pacing<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">up
and down<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">up
and down,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">restless
as leaf-bits<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">and
papers in the street.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Note how Rilke’s <i>physical</i>
image<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Whoever is alone now will remain so for a
long time,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">will stay up, read, write long letters,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">and wander the avenues, up and down . . .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">becomes a <i>mental</i>
image in Merrin’s rendition: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">mind
pacing<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">up
and down<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">up
and down<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And Rilke’s concluding image of leaves blowing becomes
an implied physical image in Merrin’s version:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">restless
as leaf-bits<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">and
papers in the street.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Rilke’s original German poem and the two translations
above suggest that although we each engage in and interpret common human
experiences and emotions, we do so in personal and idiosyncratically meaningful
ways. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Joel Thomas Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01038366206601829197noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050421304602413661.post-22700302443178767952012-11-25T17:25:00.000-08:002012-11-25T17:25:51.911-08:00Need (Jack Gilbert and Connie Voisine)<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In
the movie <i>Wall Street</i>, stock trader Gordon Gekko famously asserts,
"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good." While not everyone might
agree with Gekko's assessment, the presence of an acute personal Need in a
poem can take the reader to an enhanced understanding of the complexities of
human desire.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Let's
see how such desire plays out in two poems: Jack Gilbert's "Going
Wrong" and Connie Voisine's "Hungry."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Jack
Gilbert, who died on November 13, 2012 at age 87, grew up in working-class
Pittsburgh. While winning the Yale Series of Younger Poets prize in 1962 for
his book <i>Views of Jeopardy</i>, his career did not follow a more traditional
path of "teach at a university, publish poems in many literary journals,
publish poetry collections through notable presses." Indeed, the notion of
a "career" in poetry was anathema to Gilbert. He did not teach, had
no students, and eschewed publication until he felt his poems had reached the
necessary level of craft and fidelity to the great human themes: love,
solitude, desire, and the sensuous nature of the physical world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">For
Gilbert, poetry was not a "career" but a calling, one that involved
self-discipline and a ruthless poetical eye. His motto could have been
"The easy way is not The Way." His self-imposed solitude led to a
peripatetic life in England, Denmark, Greece and the United States.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Gilbert's
output is sparse: <i>Monolithos Poems, 1962 and 1982</i> (published
in 1984), <i>The Great Fires: Poems, 1982-1992</i> (published in 1994), <i>Refusing
Heaven</i> (2005) and <i>The Dance</i> <i>Most of All</i> (2009). His <i>Collected
Poems</i> appeared in 2012.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Gilbert's
poem "Going Wrong" inhabits a Greek countryside landscape and opens
abruptly:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fish are dreadful. They are brought
up<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the mountain in the dawn most days,
beautiful<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and alien and cold from night under the
sea,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the grand rooms fading from their flat
eyes.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Soft machinery of the dark</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">, the man
thinks, <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>washing them. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">A
curious "conversation" ensues: a Heavenly Voice intrudes and the
speaker’s response is merely an aside:</span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Soft machinery of the dark</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">, the man
thinks, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>washing them. “What can you know of my
machinery!”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>demands the Lord. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sure</i>, the man says quietly<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and cuts into them, laying back the dozen
struts,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>getting to the muck of something
terrible.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Note
the percussive short-u sounds of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cuts/struts/muck
</i>: the speaker will not be deterred from preparing the fish, even as the Heavenly
Voice continues to hector him:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Lord insists: “You are the one who
chooses<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to live this way. I build cities where
things<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are human. I make Tuscany and you go to
live <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with rocks and silence” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>. . . <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You have lived all year without women”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>. . .<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“No
one knows where you are. People forget you. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You are vain and stubborn.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">But
the speaker will not be interrupted and responds only with a thought, not
spoken words.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It
is the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">speaker</i> who defines the nature
of the relationship between himself and that Heavenly Voice<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>. . . The man slices<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>tomatoes and lemons. Takes out the fish<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>and scrambles eggs. <i>I am not stubborn</i>, he thinks, <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>laying all of it on the table in the courtyard<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>full of early sun, shadows of swallows flying<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>on the food. <i>Not stubborn, just greedy.<o:p></o:p></i></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Several aspects
of Gilbert’s craft in this poem are worth noting. His choice of details is
razor-sharp—see how one of the Lord’s pronouncements is followed by an action
which echoes the supposed emptiness of the speaker’s condition:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You have lived all year without women.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He takes out everything [from the pan] and
puts in the fish.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In
addition, Gilbert ensures that the poem’s vantage point (third-person observer,
present-tense verbs) aligns perfectly with the poem’s title, which is not “Gone
Wrong” (an evaluation after the fact) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but
“Going Wrong,” which signals a present and ongoing disposition in the speaker.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Finally,
the leisurely pacing of the poem is embodied in the flexible 5-beat lines from
start to finish. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">*
* * *<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">While Connie Voisine’s
poem “Hunger” also centers around a hungering, it contrasts in interesting ways
to Gilbert’s “Going Wrong.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Where Gilbert's poem takes its time traversing the flexible 5-beat
lines, Voisine's poem is a quick set of eleven very long lines. There is no
capitalization (except for 'I' and the brand-name of a shaver) and the
punctuation is missing, producing an on-rush of revelation. Where "Going
Wrong" centers around self-preservation in the face of the world at large,
"Hunger" focuses on self-preservation within the particulars of an
economically-strapped family ("I traded our surplus cheese from the state
/ for and electric Lady Shaver").<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Instead of Gilbert's
outside observer of the speaker in present-tense, Voisine provides a gripping
first-person narrative in past-tense, whose compactness embodies the furtive
correspondence the teenage speaker had with "an incarcerated man in
Florida." </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
transgressive nature of the relationship shows up not only in particular diction
("I knew it was a sin but I was so / poor") but also in the detail
which results from the obsessive quality of that relationship:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>. . . my prisoner wrote<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>he
wanted to lick my legs slowly like two popsicles down<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to the white stick . . . <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and I shaved myself for days<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in the secret disco on the radio flooding
over my legs I bent I twisted<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>touched every inch with the razor the
plastic shell buzzed in my hand<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and
numbed my skin while my mother pounded my door<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Just
like the Gilbert poem, Voisine's "Hungry" involves a conversation,
but here both the speaker and the other participant inevitably and directly
confront each other:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>. . . I bent I twisted<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>touched every inch with the razor
the plastic shell buzzed in my hand<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and numbed my skin while my mother
pounded my door<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was hungry</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> I yelled she
kept on pounding <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">we all are too</i> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Where
Gilbert's speaker is defiant at the end of the poem, Voisine's
fourteen-year-old protagonist<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">is
not-quite-apologetic. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So:
two poems that use contrasting strategies to address the same great human themes:
need and desire.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">*
* * </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_Toc315015058"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"><strong>Going Wrong<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Jack
Gilbert)</strong></span></a><span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The fish
are dreadful. They are brought up<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">the
mountain in the dawn most days, beautiful<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">and
alien and cold from night under the sea,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">the
grand rooms fading from their flat eyes.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Soft machinery of the dark, </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">the man thinks,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">washing
them. “What can you know of my machinery!”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">demands
the Lord. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sure</i>, the man says quietly<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">and cuts
into them, laying back the dozen struts,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">getting
to the muck of something terrible.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The Lord
insists: “You are the one who chooses<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">to live
this way. I build cities where things<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">are human.
I make Tuscany and you go to live<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">with
rock and silence.” The man washes away<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">the
blood and arranges the fish on a big plate.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Starts
the onions in the hot olive oil and puts<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">in
peppers. “You have lived all year without women.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">He takes
out everything and puts in the fish.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“No one
knows where you are. People forget you.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">You are
vain and stubborn.” The man slices<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">tomatoes
and lemons. Takes out the fish<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">and
scrambles eggs. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I am not stubborn</i>, he
thinks,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">laying
all of it on the table in the courtyard<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">full of
early sun, shadows of swallows flying<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">on the
food. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Not stubborn, just greedy.<o:p></o:p></i></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> The Great Fires: Poems 1982-1992, </i>page 3: Alfred A. Knopf, New
York, NY ©1994)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #4f81bd;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_Toc315015059"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">Hungry<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Connie Voisine)</span></span></a><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>when I was fourteen I wrote lies to an
incarcerated man in Florida<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">lies
about my pretty clothes palomino disco records gold rings my mother<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>bought me he believed me I knew it was a
sin but I was so<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">poor and
hated having to eat anything that was free my prisoner wrote<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>he wanted to lick my legs slowly like two
popsicles down<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">to the
white stick I traded our surplus cheese from the state<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for an electric Lady Shaver and I shaved
myself for days<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">in the
secret disco on the radio flooding over my legs I bent I twisted<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>touched every inch with the razor the
plastic shell buzzed in my hand<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">and
numbed my skin while my mother pounded my door<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was hungry</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> I yelled she kept on
pounding <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">we all are too</i> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Cathedral of the North</i>: University of Pittsburgh Press,
Pittsburgh, PA </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">©2001)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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Joel Thomas Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01038366206601829197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050421304602413661.post-1297190630202041462012-09-09T12:14:00.000-07:002012-09-10T14:25:53.240-07:00How ToAfter enjoying the hammock this summer and soaking up some sun, Poem-Pairs is back with a post-Labor-Day session on "How To."<br />
<br />
Americans are a practical, do-it-yourself people. Their homes are filled with various books on <em>How to</em> <em>Do X</em> , <em>How to Do Y</em>, etc. This session considers a pair of poems in which instruction is offered to the reader.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Lucille
Lang Day's poem "Instructions for a Wampanoag Clambake" describes a modern-day Native American <em></em>ceremony of the <em>Wampanoag</em>
tribes in southeastern Massachusetts.
One gathers tide-smoothed stones for a cooking hole, plus clams and rockweed. Once the fire is started over the stones, more ingredients are added.</span><br />
<br />
By following the instructions step by step, the participants will become receptive to those aspects of existence which are blessings:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The
deer will always make you laugh<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">the
mountain lion take your side,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">the
Star People shine on your path<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">if
you do it this way.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
This poem is an invitation to the members of the tribe as well as to the reader who is an outsider to this community.<br />
<br />
In the William Carlos Williams poem <em>Tract</em>, the ceremony is a funeral. While the poem is also a set of instructions, it stands in contrast to the Lucille Lang Day poem by being a warning and an admonishment to his townspeople: for heaven sakes, do it right<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">—don't screw it up. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Yet the speaker's voice is tender towards his audience. Note the opening lines:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> I will teach you my townspeople<br />
how to perform a funeral<br />
for you have it over a troop<br />
of artists—<br />
unless one should scour the world—<br />
you have the ground sense necessary.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Now for some warnings:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> I begin with a design for a hearse.<br />
For Christ's sake not black—<br />
nor white either — and not polished!<br />
Let it be weathered—like a farm wagon—<br />
with gilt wheels (this could be<br />
applied fresh at small expense)<br />
or no wheels at all:<br />
a rough dray to drag over the ground.<br />
<br />
Knock the glass out!<br />
My God—glass, my townspeople!<br />
For what purpose? Is it for the dead<br />
to look out or for us to see<br />
the flowers or the lack of them—<br />
or what?<br />
To keep the rain and snow from him?<br />
He will have a heavier rain soon:<br />
pebbles and dirt and what not.<br />
Let there be no glass—<br />
and no upholstery, phew!<br />
and no little brass rollers<br />
and small easy wheels on the bottom—<br />
my townspeople, what are you thinking of?<br />
A rough plain hearse then<br />
with gilt wheels and no top at all.<br />
On this the coffin lies<br />
by its own weight . . .</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> No wreathes please—<br />
especially no hot house flowers . . .<br />
So much for the hearse.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> For heaven's sake though see to the driver!<br />
Take off the silk hat! In fact<br />
that's no place at all for him—<br />
up there unceremoniously<br />
dragging our friend out to his own dignity! . . .</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> Then briefly as to yourselves:<br />
Walk behind—as they do in France,<br />
seventh class, or if you ride<br />
Hell take curtains! Go with some show<br />
of inconvenience; sit openly—<br />
to the weather as to grief.<br />
Or do you think you can shut grief in?<br />
What—from us? We who have perhaps<br />
nothing to lose? </span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">As Williams says, Dignity is the name of the game. </span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">And finally, the send-off. Like Lucille Lang Day, Williams now feels the participants are fully prepared to carry out (and thereby to experience) the essential qualities of the ceremony at hand:</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Go now<br />
I think you are ready.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">* * * * *</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> Instructions for a Wampanoag Clambake (Lucille Lang Day)<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: .5in 4.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: .5in 4.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Wade
into Popponesset Bay<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">to
collect some Rock People—<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">old
round stones<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">smoothed
by the tide.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: .5in 4.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Remember
Moshup, the giant<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">who
predicted the arrival of white men.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">When
he said good-bye<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">to
the People of the First Light,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: .5in 4.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">he
turned into a whale.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Find
a place in forest shade,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">make
a circle, and dig<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">a
shallow round hole for the stones.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Moshup’s
friend, the giant frog,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">came
to the cliffs and wept.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Changed
into a rock, he still sits <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">at
Gay Head today and looks out to sea.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: .5in 4.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Before
finding dry wood for the fire—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">your
gift from the forest—<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">notice
the shape of the hole<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">and
the stones: All life is a circle.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">When
the tide is low, gather<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">quahog
and sickissuog clams<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">and
plenty of rockweed,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">whose
stipes are loaded with brine.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Light
a fire over the stones<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">and
when the Rock People start to glow, <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">pile
rockweed on them.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">This
is their blanket.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: .5in 4.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">As
saltwater is released<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">from
the stipes and steam rises, <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">add
clams, lobsters, corn, <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">more
armfuls of rockweed. <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: .5in 4.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">This
is the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">apponaug:</i> seafood cooking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Now
thank Kehtannit<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, </i>who saw <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">the
frog’s sorrow and turned <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">him
into a rock out of pity<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">and
taught the People to use <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">the
Earth, plants, animals <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">and
water to care for themselves<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">after
Moshup left.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The
deer will always make you laugh<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">the
mountain lion take your side,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">the
Star People shine on your path<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">if
you do it this way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> (used by permssion of the author, to appear in <i>The Tower Journal</i> in late September 2012)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">* * * * *</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tract (William Carlos Williams)<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I will teach you my townspeople<br />
how to perform a funeral<br />
for you have it over a troop<br />
of artists—<br />
unless one should scour the world—<br />
you have the ground sense necessary.<br />
<br />
See! the hearse leads.<br />
I begin with a design for a hearse.<br />
For Christ's sake not black—<br />
nor white either — and not polished!<br />
Let it be weathered—like a farm wagon—<br />
with gilt wheels (this could be<br />
applied fresh at small expense)<br />
or no wheels at all:<br />
a rough dray to drag over the ground.<br />
<br />
Knock the glass out!<br />
My God—glass, my townspeople!<br />
For what purpose? Is it for the dead<br />
to look out or for us to see<br />
the flowers or the lack of them—<br />
or what?<br />
To keep the rain and snow from him?<br />
He will have a heavier rain soon:<br />
pebbles and dirt and what not.<br />
Let there be no glass—<br />
and no upholstery, phew!<br />
and no little brass rollers<br />
and small easy wheels on the bottom—<br />
my townspeople, what are you thinking of?<br />
A rough plain hearse then<br />
with gilt wheels and no top at all.<br />
On this the coffin lies<br />
by its own weight.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> No wreathes please—<br />
especially no hot house flowers.<br />
Some common memento is better,<br />
something he prized and is known by:<br />
his old clothes—a few books perhaps—<br />
God knows what! You realize<br />
how we are about these things<br />
my townspeople—<br />
something will be found—anything<br />
even flowers if he had come to that.<br />
So much for the hearse.<br />
<br />
For heaven's sake though see to the driver!<br />
Take off the silk hat! In fact<br />
that's no place at all for him—<br />
up there unceremoniously<br />
dragging our friend out to his own dignity!<br />
Bring him down—bring him down!<br />
Low and inconspicuous! I'd not have him ride<br />
on the wagon at all—damn him!—<br />
the undertaker's understrapper!<br />
Let him hold the reins<br />
and walk at the side<br />
and inconspicuously too!<br />
<br />
Then briefly as to yourselves:<br />
Walk behind—as they do in France,<br />
seventh class, or if you ride<br />
Hell take curtains! Go with some show<br />
of inconvenience; sit openly—<br />
to the weather as to grief.<br />
Or do you think you can shut grief in?<br />
What—from us? We who have perhaps<br />
nothing to lose? Share with us<br />
share with us—it will be money<br />
in your pockets.<br />
Go now<br />
I think you are ready.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> (from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">William
Carlos Williams: Selected Poems</i> (1985),
New York, NY: New Directions, pages 19-20)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: .5in 1.5in 4.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />Joel Thomas Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01038366206601829197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050421304602413661.post-68921189740082632332012-06-18T12:30:00.001-07:002012-06-18T12:54:20.296-07:00Back from vacation! (Smoke, etc.)After a bit of vacation in May, the Poem-Pairs Blog is back with its energy recharged.<br />
<br />
Sometimes two objects seem to have only the slightest connection. The two poems below share the word "smoke." A tenuous link at best -- or is there something more going on?<br />
<br />
Aimee Nezhukumatathil's poem "The Secret of Soil" begins with smoke, rather than soil:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> The
secret of smoke is that it will fill</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">any
space with walls, no matter<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> how
delicate: lung cell, soapy bubble<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> blown
from a bright red ring.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
So perhaps the author is going to drive the poem toward the theme announced in the title . . .<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> The
secret of soil is that it is alive—<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> a
step in the forest means<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> you
are carried on the back<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> of
a thousand bugs. The secret<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> I
give you is on page forty-two<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> of
my old encyclopedia set.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> I
cut out all the pictures of minerals<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> and gemstones . . . </span><br />
<br />
Wait a minute -- she just veered away from the supposed central idea of the poem!<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> I
cut out all the pictures of minerals<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> and
gemstones. I could not take<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> their
beauty, could not swallow<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> that
such stones lived deep inside<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> the
earth. I wanted to tape them<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> to
my hands and wrists, I held<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> them
to my thin brown neck.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> I
wanted my mouth to fill<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> with
light, a rush of wind<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> and pepper . . .</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Maybe the theme of the poem is that the speaker is trying to ingest the essence of the world around her, and that like smoke, this essence will fill all of her interior and exterior being. But the poem does not end there:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> . . . I
wanted my mouth to fill<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> with
light, a rush of wind<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> and
pepper. I can still taste it<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> like
a dare across a railroad track,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> sure
with feet-solid step. I’m not<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> allowed
to be alone with scissors.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> I
will </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">always find a way to dig.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Perhaps "dare" is the crucial word here. The speaker's overwhelming need to subsume the </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">particulars of the world makes her (relative to other people) dangerous: she's the one you cannot trust with scissors, and she's the one who will keep on digging to find and experience the true taste of the world she inhabits.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">* * * *</span><br />
<br />
In Sally Ashton's prose-poem "I wait for a rogue wave," the word "smoke" doesn't appear until the final sentence within the second paragraph. How does the poem find its way there?<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> I
wait for a rogue wave to hit or a seagull to shit in my hair, what it means to
sit </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">on
a rock</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> near </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">unprecedented sea, the sea that sounds like itself and nothing else </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">in
the world at the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> edge of the w</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">orld where the waves change themselves against </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">cliff.
Here comes another </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> woman down the s</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">ame path, silent because of the self-</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">sounding
sea. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Who</i> isn’t obvious, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> only where
and when. She </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">hops the stream that </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">barely troubles the surf.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Besides the self-mocking humor about the seagull and the fresh notion of "unprecedented sea," we have a simple stage with two actors: first the speaker appears, then another woman enters. Nothing unusual has happened . . . until:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> She<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">
hops the stream that </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">barely
troubles the surf. Next I look, she sits naked on the sand with</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> a </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">flame </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">between
her legs. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Ashton mysteriously and delightfully subverts our expectations:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Next I look, she sits naked on the sand with a flame <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">between her legs. </span>This sounds like sex </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> but it’s </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">pages she burns, not self or passion </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">though
that’s implied. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The tension builds as the speaker notices her own mini-conflict: should she continue watching or not? </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> I can’t bear to watch nor should I. Watch. One who waits </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">for
birdshit must not interfere with</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> one </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">who self-emoliates [sic]. Instead I
pocket two </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">stones,
one smooth, one jagged like an</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> arrowhead</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> and climb back up the cliff </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">careful
at each pitched step.</span><br />
<br />
We notice the first of two curious words in the prose-poem: "self-emoliates". Is it a typo or what? (The bracketed Latin word <em>sic</em> means "thus" and is the literary convention for an editor to say "I'm quoting the author as is. I'm just as puzzled and curious as you the reader might be.") Obviously, the other woman on the beach is not <em>immolating</em> herself: she's just burning some pieces of paper. Or has Ashton created a word to subsume the notions of <em>immolate</em>, <em>mollify</em> (to placate or calm) and <em>emollient</em> (a lotion which softens)?<br />
<br />
Back to Ashton's prose-poem. Curiosity gets the better of our speaker in the second of the two paragraphs:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> And
I look back where one at a time each torn page torn out goes up in flame, each
page </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">a
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> prayer. I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> don’t pray, such unbinding the loosening of thought, an unbodiment [sic]
of </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">desire.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">How </i>is a </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">mystery, and why can’t be
spoken. Even <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">what</i> fools the eye. Only </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">fuel,
smoke rising </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> in a pillar, my </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">lips flecked with salt.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
And now the other curious word: "unbodiment," perhaps a way of capturing a notion opposite from "embodiment."<br />
<br />
What strikes us about Ashton's speaker is her honesty. She confides that she cannot help gazing at the other woman and trying to make sense of the mysterious fire ritual. She interprets each burning page as "a prayer" and confesses that she herself doesn't (cannot?) pray. Her take on the seaside mini-drama? It's "fuel, smoke rising in a pillar." <br />
<br />
So: are the two members of our poem-pair only weakly related via the single word "smoke?" <br />
<br />
"Fuel" might just serve as the stronger-than-originally-thought connection. Nezhukumatathil's smoke signals the desire to absorb/devour the speaker's world. Ashton's smoke signals the fuel that drives our curiosity about potentially unknowbale facets of our world.<br />
<br />
* * * * <br />
<br />
<h3 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc315015126"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">The Secret of
Soil (Aimee Nezhukumatathil)</span></a><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
secret of smoke is that it will fill<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">any
space with walls, no matter<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">how
delicate: lung cell, soapy bubble<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">blown
from a bright red ring.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
secret of soil is that it is alive—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">a
step in the forest means<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">you
are carried on the back<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of
a thousand bugs. The secret<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
give you is on page forty-two<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of
my old encyclopedia set.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
cut out all the pictures of minerals<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and
gemstones. I could not take<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">their
beauty, could not swallow<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">that
such stones lived deep inside<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the
earth. I wanted to tape them<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">to
my hands and wrists, I held<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">them
to my thin brown neck.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
wanted my mouth to fill<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">with
light, a rush of wind<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and
pepper. I can still taste it<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">like
a dare across a railroad track,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">sure
with feet-solid step. I’m not<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">allowed
to be alone with scissors.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
will always find a way to dig.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lucky
Fish, </i>page 3: Tupelo Press, North Adams, MA © 2011)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
* * * *<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria;"><h3 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc315015127">I wait for a
rogue wave (Sally Ashton) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></a><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
wait for a rogue wave to hit or a seagull to shit in my hair, what it means to
sit<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">on
a rock near unprecedented sea, the sea that sounds like itself and nothing else<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">in
the world at the edge of the world where the waves change themselves against<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">cliff.
Here comes another woman down the same path, silent because of the self-<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">sounding
sea. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Who</i> isn’t obvious, only where
and when. She hops the stream that<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">barely
troubles the surf. Next I look, she sits naked on the sand with a flame<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">between
her legs. This sounds like sex but it’s pages she burns, not self or passion<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">though
that’s implied. I can’t bear to watch nor should I. Watch. One who waits<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">for
birdshit must not interfere with one who self-emoliates [sic]. Instead I
pocket two<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">stones,
one smooth, one jagged like an arrowhead and climb back up the cliff<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">careful
at each pitched step.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And
I look back where one at a time each torn page torn out goes up in flame, each
page<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">a
prayer. I don’t pray, such unbinding the loosening of thought, an unbodiment [sic]
of<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">desire.
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">How </i>is a mystery, and why can’t be
spoken. Even <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">what</i> fools the eye. Only<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">fuel,
smoke rising in a pillar, my lips flecked with salt.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<h3 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="color: #4f81bd;"> </span></o:p></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Some
Odd Afternoon, </i>page 30: Blaze VOX [books], Buffalo, NY © 2010)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />Joel Thomas Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01038366206601829197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050421304602413661.post-61512234253264108832012-04-22T17:51:00.000-07:002012-06-18T10:31:36.979-07:00TerrainOn this earth Day (April 22, 2012) let's consider the notion of "terrain" in a pair of poems.<br />
<br />
A given terrain can reflect not only the physical particulars of the natural world but also the poet's response to those particulars. In Christian Wiman's "One Time," the speaker focuses on "a lovely cut/of a missing river," fissures, "the slickrock whorls." But these are not neutral observations: we find word-choices such as the following (italics mine -- JK): <br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> . . . the yucca’s <em>stricken<o:p></o:p></em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><em>clench</em>, and, on the other side,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the dozen <em>buzzards</em> swirled and buoyed<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">above some terrible intangible fire<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">that must <em>scald</em> the very heart<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of matter to cast up such <em>avid ash</em>.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
And the speaker is not merely present at the scene: he finds himself there after an earlier unspecified event, discovering now<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">. . . a clarity<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> of which my eyes were not yet capable . . .</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">To believe is to believe you have been torn<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> from the abyss, yet stand waveringly on its rim.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> I come back to the world. I come back<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">to the world and would speak of it plainly . . .</span><br />
<br />
The speaker's life has been transformed by that prior harrowing experience (illness?), and through the natural particulars currently in front of him, he comes to acknowledge that he is a survivor. <br />
<br />
W.S. Merwin's "Low Fields and Light" is a quieter response to the natural world than Wiman's poem, but is no less vivid. Where Wiman's speaker experiences a canyon terrain today, Merwin's speaker is struck by a landscape recalled over many years. The uncanny power of memory lends a vibrancy to the current scene and its supposed ordinariness:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">But you would think the fields were something<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">To me, so long I stare out, looking<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">For their shapes or shadows through the matted gleam, seeing<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Neither what is nor what was, but the flat light rising.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
One might propose the equation "<em>inner terrain</em> reflects the <em>outer terrain." </em>But that would be too facile. The real magic arises in how the poet deftly merges an image from the natural world with a heightened sense of language. <br />
<br />
<h3 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc318209827"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">One Time <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Christian Wiman)</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Then I looked down into a lovely cut<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of a missing river, something under<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">dusk’s upflooding shadows<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">claiming for itself a clarity<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of which my eyes were not yet capable:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">fissures could be footpaths, ancient homes<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">random erosions; pictographs depicting fealties<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of who knows what hearts, to who knows what gods.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">To believe is to believe you have been torn<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">from the abyss, yet stand waveringly on its rim.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I come back to the world. I come back<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">to the world and would speak of it plainly,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">with only so much artifice as words<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">themselves require, only so much distance<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">as my own eyes impose<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">On the slickrock whorls of the real<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">canyon, the yucca’s stricken<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">clench, and, on the other side,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the dozen buzzards swirled and buoyed<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">above some terrible intangible fire<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">that must scald the very heart<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of matter to cast up such avid ash.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Every Riven Thing,</i> pages 27-28, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, New York, NY © 2010) <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" /> </span><br />
<h3 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc318209828"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">Low Fields and Light <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(W.S. Merwin)</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I think it is in Virginia, that place<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">That lies across the eye of my mind now<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Like a gray blade set to the moon's roundness,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Like a plain of glass touching all there is.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The flat fields run out to the sea there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There is no sand, no line. It is autumn.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The bare fields, dark between fences, run<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Out to the idle gleam of the flat water.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And the fences go on out, sinking slowly,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">With a cow-bird half-way, on a stunted post, watching<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">How the light slides through them easy as weeds<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Or wind, slides over them away out near the sky.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Because even a bird can remember<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The fields that were there before the slow<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Spread and wash of the edging line crawled<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There and covered them, a little more each year.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">My father never ploughed there, nor my mother<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Waited, and never knowingly I stood there<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Hearing the seepage slow as growth, nor knew<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">When the taste of salt took over the ground.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">But you would think the fields were something<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">To me, so long I stare out, looking<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">For their shapes or shadows through the matted gleam, seeing<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Neither what is nor what was, but the flat light rising. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Selected Poems,</i> page 44, Atheneum, New York, NY © 1988) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" /> </span>Joel Thomas Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01038366206601829197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050421304602413661.post-13011290529300303052012-04-08T10:06:00.012-07:002012-04-09T13:33:38.105-07:00Adrienne Rich (1929-2012)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We note with sorrow the passing of Adrienne Rich on March 27th. She is a true lion of American poetry: her voice is strong and unafraid. In our current time of vapid political discourse as well as “political correctness” (a theme she mentions in her poem “North American Time” from the early 90’s), <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">When my dreams showed signs<o:p></o:p></span></div> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of becoming</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">politically correct</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">no unruly images</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">escaping beyond border</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">when walking in the street I found my</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">themes cut out for me</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">knew what I would not report</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">for fear of enemies' usage</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">then I began to wonder</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>II<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Everything we write</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">will be used against us</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">or against those we love.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">These are the terms,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">take them or leave them . . .<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Your Native Land, Your Life</i>, page 33, W.W. Norton & Company, New York ©1993)<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Rich dares to ask us—literally:</span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Where are we moored?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">What are the bindings?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">What behooves us?</span></div></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">An Atlas of the Difficult World: Poems 1988-1991</i>, page 23, W.W. Norton & Company, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New York © 1991)<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">For the poet, answers to these crucial questions will not come easily:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 49.5pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Final Notations<o:p></o:p></span></div> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">it will not be simple, it will not be long<br />
it will take little time, it will take all your thought<br />
it will take all your heart, it will take all your breath<br />
it will be short, it will not be simple<br />
<br />
it will touch through your ribs, it will take all your heart<br />
it will not be long, it will occupy your thought<br />
as a city is occupied, as a bed is occupied<br />
it will take all your flesh, it will not be simple<br />
<br />
you are coming into us who cannot withstand you<br />
you are coming into us who never wanted to withstand you<br />
you are taking parts of us into places never planned<br />
you are going far away with pieces of our lives<br />
<br />
it will be short, it will take all your breath<br />
it will not be simple, it will become your will<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <em>An Atlas of the Difficult World: Poems 1988-1991,</em> page 57</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">)<o:p></o:p></span></div></span> <br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I recall attending a reading of hers to a packed auditorium at Stanford University in the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>mid-90s. While she walked slowly across the stage with the help of a cane, her voice was unwavering. She told us she was finishing a new book that she had decided to call <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark Fields of the Republic</i>, a phrase taken from Walt Whitman that signaled her dismay at the prevailing atmosphere in the U.S. at that time. She told us she was going back over the manuscript again and again, editing it “more vigorously than any of my books so far.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In response to that perennial hand-wringing question <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Does poetry matter?</i> , W.H Auden often gets quoted: “Poetry makes nothing happen.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But let’s look at the entire quotation from Auden’s poem “In Memory of W.B. Yeats”:<o:p></o:p></span></div> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">For poetry makes nothing happen: it survives<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
In the valley of its making where executives<br />
Would never want to tamper, flows on south<br />
From ranches of isolation and the busy griefs,<br />
Raw towns that we believe and die in; it survives,<br />
A way of happening, a mouth. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> And to this question—<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Does poetry matter?</i>—Rich weighs in with a resounding Yes. She knows that what matters to her are the everyday concerns of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all</i> citizens, especially the unheralded men, women and children. Here are some excerpts from “I Know You are Reading This Poem”: <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">. . . I know you are reading this poem<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
in a room where too much has happened for you to bear<br />
where the bedclothes lie in stagnant coils on the bed<br />
and the open valise speaks of flight<br />
but you cannot leave yet. I know you are reading this poem<br />
as the underground train loses momentum and before running up the stairs<br />
toward a new kind of love<br />
your life has never allowed . . .<br />
I know you are reading this poem by fluorescent light<br />
in the boredom and fatigue of the young who are counted out, count themselves out, at too early an age. I know<br />
you are reading this poem through your failing sight, the thick<br />
lens enlarging these letters beyond all meaning yet you read on<br />
because even the alphabet is precious.<br />
I know you are reading this poem as you pace beside the stove<br />
warming milk, a crying child on your shoulder, a book in your hand<br />
because life is short and you too are thirsty . . .<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <em>An Atlas of the Difficult World: Poems 1988-1991,</em> pages 25-26)<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“I Know You are Reading This Poem” is an urgent telegram to America’s central nervous system: "I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hear</i> you, you are not forgotten."<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For our poem-pair this session, I present two adjacent sections from Rich’s “Contradictions: Tracking Poems”. Here we find two facets of the same poet in conversation with each other: the pragmatic self (“I hope you have some idea / about the rest of your life”) versus the experiential self (“</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">I'm already living the rest of my life</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>/ not under conditions of my own choosing / wired<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>into pain”). Without further commentary; I invite you to savor the mind and spirit of Adrienne Rich.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">6.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">Dear Adrienne,<o:p></o:p></span></div> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">I'm calling you up tonight </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">as I might call up a friend<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as I might call up a ghost</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">to ask you what you intend to do </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">with the rest of your life. Sometimes you act</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">as if you have all the time there is.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">I worry about you when I see this. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">The prime of life, old age</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">aren't what they used to be; </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">making a good death isn't either, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">now you can walk around the corner of a wall </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">and see a light</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">that has already blown your past away. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">Somewhere in Boston<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>beautiful literature </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">is being read around the clock </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">by writers <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to signify</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">their dislike of this. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">I hope you've got something in mind. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">I hope you have some idea </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">about the rest of your life. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 3in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">In sisterhood, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 4.5in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">Adrienne<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">7.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">Dear Adrienne,<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">I feel signified by pain</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">from my breastbone through my left shoulder down</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">through my elbow into my wrist is a thread of pain</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">I am typing this instead of writing by hand</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">because my wrist on the right side</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">blooms and rushes with pain</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">like a neon bulb</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">You ask me how I'm going to live</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">the rest of my life</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">Well, nothing is predictable with pain</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">Did the old poets write of this?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">—in its odd spaces, free,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">many have sung and battled—</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">But I'm already living the rest of my life</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">not under conditions of my choosing</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">wired<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span> into pain</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2.5in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">rider on the slow train<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 4in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">Yours, Adrienne<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in;"><br />
</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Your Native Land, Your Life</i>, pages 88-89, W.W. Norton & Company, New York © 1993) </span></div>Joel Thomas Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01038366206601829197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050421304602413661.post-84421494676830857162012-03-24T21:45:00.000-07:002012-03-24T21:45:05.677-07:00AnimalsIn this session of Poem-Pairs we look at animals, not with the typical "aww" response elicited by certain species in a zoo or on National Geographic specials. Instead, we consider our more instinctual responses. <br />
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In "The Oldest Living Thing in L.A. ," Larry Levis gives us an opossum (one of those "aww" animals) trying to cross a busy thoroughfare in Los Angeles. As soon as people try to help it,<br />
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. . . <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It would lift its black lips & show them<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The reddened gums, the long rows of incisors,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Teeth that went all the way back beyond<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The flames of Troy & Carthage . . . </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Yet the opossum</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> . . . <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">would back away<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Delicately & smoothly, stepping carefully<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">As it always had. It could mangle someone’s hand<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In twenty seconds. Mangle it for good. It could<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Sever it completely from the wrist in forty. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Some onlooker would probably call</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> . . . <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Animal Control, who woke a driver<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">, who<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Then dressed in mailed gloves . . . <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">someone who hoped<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The thing would have vanished by the time he got there. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Note how Levis' choice of details underscores the more menacing aspects of what we might take to be a benign animal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Similar to the appearance of the Animal Control person in the Levis poem, Stephen Dunn's "The Sudden Light and the Trees" tells us how the speaker once called the Humane Society about a neighbor's dog. The menacing element here is not the dog, but rather that neighbor:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">My neighbor was a biker, a pusher, a dog <o:p></o:p></span></span></o:p></span></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and a wife beater.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> In bad dreams I killed him<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> and once, in the consequential light of day,<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I called the Humane Society<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">about Blue, his dog. They took her away<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> and I readied myself, a baseball bat<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>inside my door.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">That night I heard his wife scream . . . </span><br />
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What about those cantilevered three-line stanzas? How do they heighten suspense by breaking the narrative into phrases that underscore the emotional tension within the poem? <br />
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Once again, there is an animal -- this time, a sparrow caught in a basement -- which generates the central conflict in the poem. Unlike Levis's armored Animal Control person, the speaker manages to trap the bird and release it:<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">. . . <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I remember how it felt<o:p></o:p></span></span></o:p></span></o:p></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">when I got it in my hand, and how it burst<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that hand open<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">when I took it outside . . . </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">But also recalled is the neighbor's reaction to the speaker's action:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> . . . <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And I remember<o:p></o:p></span></span></o:p></span></o:p></span></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> the way he slapped the gun against<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>his open palm,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">kept slapping it, and wouldn’t speak. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">One might ask: who is the real animal here -- the sparrow or the neighbor? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br />
<h3 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt;"><a href="" name="_Toc318209779"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567204"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567130"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566467"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566409"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566295"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299482588"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299476305"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299475546"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476305;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482588;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566295;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566409;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566467;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567130;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567204;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc318209779;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Oldest Living Thing in L.A.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Larry Levis)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></h3><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">At Wilshire and Santa Monica I saw an opossum<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Trying to cross the street. It was late, the street<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Was brightly lit, the opossum would take<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">A few steps forward, then back away from the breath<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Of moving traffic. People coming out of the bars<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Would approach, as if to help it somehow.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It would lift its black lips & show them<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The reddened gums, the long rows of incisors,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Teeth that went all the way back beyond<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The flames of Troy & Carthage, beyond sheep<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Grazing rock-strewn hills, fragments of ruins<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In the grass at San Vitale. It would back away<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Delicately & smoothly, stepping carefully<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">As it always had. It could mangle someone’s hand<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In twenty seconds. Mangle it for good. It could<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Sever it completely from the wrist in forty.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
T<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">here was nothing to be done for it. Someone<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Or other probably called the LAPD, who then<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Called Animal Control, who woke a driver, who<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Then dressed in mailed gloves, the kind of thing<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Small knights once wore into battle, who gathered<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Together his pole with a noose at the end,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">A light steel net to snare it with, someone who hoped<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The thing would have vanished by the time he got there. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elegy, </i>page 7: University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA©1997)</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<h3 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt;"><a href="" name="_Toc318209780"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567205"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567131"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566468"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566410"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566296"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299482589"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299476306"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299475547"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476306;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482589;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566296;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566410;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566468;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567131;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567205;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc318209780;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: #4f81bd;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475547;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476306;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482589;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566296;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566410;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566468;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567131;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567205;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc318209780;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Sudden Light and the Trees (Stephen Dunn)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h3><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Syracuse, 1969<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">My neighbor was a biker, a pusher, a dog<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and a wife beater.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In bad dreams I killed him<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and once, in the consequential light of day,<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I called the Humane Society<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">about Blue, his dog. They took her away<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and I readied myself, a baseball bat<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>inside my door.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">That night I heard his wife scream<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and I couldn’t help it, that pathetic<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>relief; her again, not me.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It would be years before I’d understand<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">why victims cling and forgive. I plugged in<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the Sleep-Sound and it crashed<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">like the ocean all the way to sleep.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">One afternoon I found him<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on the stoop,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">a pistol in his hand, waiting,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">he said, for me. A sparrow had gotten in<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to our common basement.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Could he have permission<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">to shoot it? The bullets, he explained,<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>might go through the floor.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I said I’d catch it, wait, give me<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">a few minutes and, clear-eyed, brilliantly<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>afraid, I trapped it<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">with a pillow. I remember how it felt<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">when I got it in my hand, and how it burst<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that hand open<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">when I took it outside, a strength<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">that must have come out of hopelessness<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and the sudden light<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and the trees. And I remember<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the way he slapped the gun against<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>his open palm,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">kept slapping it, and wouldn’t speak.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Landscape at the End of the Century: Poems, </i>pages 42-43: W.W. Norton & Company, New York, NY ©1991) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" /> </span><o:p></o:p>Joel Thomas Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01038366206601829197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050421304602413661.post-64388771972887513712012-03-18T21:14:00.151-07:002012-03-18T22:12:39.671-07:00Fields/MeadowsIn our previous blog, we considered a poem-pair where the action takes place on the inside: in an airport, in an airplane, in a room. It's time to move out-of-doors.<br />
<br />
Rodney Jones' poem <em>Ground Sense </em>opens with a sly line break: instead of divulging his intimacies with women, the speaker subverts our expectations and moves to a deeper level of understanding: <br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Because I have known many women<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Who are dead, I try to think of fields<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">As holy places. Whether we plow them<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Or let them to weeds and sunlight,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Those are the best places for grief,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> If only that they perform the peace<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> We come to . . .</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Fields, meadows, woods: they provide a venue of understanding--but not for everyone:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> . . .<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> except as my<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Friend’s wife begins to disappear,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> He feels no solvent in all the earth</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Yet in comparison, the speaker feels like an "amateur at grief":</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Walking the creek behind the house,<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I cross to the old homeplace, find<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> A scattering of chimney rocks, the<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Seeds my grandfather watered, the<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Human lifetime of middle-aged trees. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Though published in 1973, Robert Duncan's poem <em>Often I Am Permitted to Return to a Meadow </em>has an older feel to it: we find words like <em>therein</em> and <em>wherefrom</em>, and phrases like </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">whose secret we see in a children's game <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">of ring a round of roses told. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some of the references feel archaic, as though from a tale of King Arthur:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> W<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">herefrom fall all architectures I am <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I say are likenesses of the First Beloved <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">whose flowers are flames lit to the Lady.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> She it is Queen Under The Hill<o:p></o:p></span></div> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">whose hosts are a disturbance of words within words <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">that is a field folded. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What feels like a certain verbal clunkiness perhaps belies a geniuneness of feeling. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even the title of the poem invites comment: <em>Often I Am Permitted to Return to a Meadow</em>. Not "Often I Return to a Meadow": instead, the speaker seems to say that he sometimes has the ability to attain the transcendence of experience which the meadow encapsulates:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Often I am permitted to return to a meadow <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">as if it were a given property of the mind <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">that certain bounds hold against chaos,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> that is a place of first permission,<o:p></o:p></span></div> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">everlasting omen of what is. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> <a href="" name="_Toc299309155"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299474032;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475540;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476299;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482582;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566289;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566403;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566461;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567124;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567198;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc318209773;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><h3 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt;"><a href="" name="_Toc318209773"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567198"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567124"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566461"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566403"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566289"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299482582"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299476299"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299475540"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299474032"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299309155"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299474032;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475540;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476299;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482582;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566289;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566403;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566461;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567124;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567198;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc318209773;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ground Sense (Rodney Jones)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></h3><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Because I have known many women<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Who are dead, I try to think of fields<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">As holy places. Whether we plow them<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Or let them to weeds and sunlight,<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Those are the best places for grief,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">If only that they perform the peace<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">We come to, the feeling without fingers,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The hearing without ears, the seeing<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Without eyes. Isn’t heaven just this<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Unbearable presence under leaves?<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I had thought so. I had believed<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">At times in a meadow and at other<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Times in a wood where we’d emerge<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">No longer ourselves, but reduced<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">To many small things that we could<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
N<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">ot presume to know, except as my<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Friend’s wife begins to disappear,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">He feels no solvent in all the earth,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And me, far off, still amateur at grief.<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Walking the creek behind the house,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I cross to the old homeplace, find<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">A scattering of chimney rocks, the<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Seeds my grandfather watered, the<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Human lifetime of middle-aged trees.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> (from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Salvation Blues: One Hundred Poems 1985-2005, </i>page 123:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, NY © 2006) </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br />
<h3 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt;"><a href="" name="_Toc318209774"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567199"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567125"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566462"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566404"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566290"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299482583"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299476300"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299475541"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299474033"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299309156"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299474033;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475541;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476300;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482583;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566290;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566404;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566462;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567125;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567199;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc318209774;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often I Am Permitted to Return to a Meadow (Robert Duncan)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a></h3><h3 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 1.5pt 1.5pt 1.5pt 1.5pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 100%;"><tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"> <td style="background-color: transparent; border: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 1.5pt;" valign="top"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 1.5pt 1.5pt 1.5pt 1.5pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 100%;"><strong> </strong><tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"><strong> </strong><td style="background-color: transparent; border: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 1.5pt;" valign="top"><strong> </strong><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">as if it were a scene made-up by the mind, <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">that is not mine, but is a made place,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">that is mine, it is so near to the heart, <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">an eternal pasture folded in all thought <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">so that there is a hall therein<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">that is a made place, created by light <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">wherefrom the shadows that are forms fall.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wherefrom fall all architectures I am <o:p></o:p></span></div><strong> </strong><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I say are likenesses of the First Beloved <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">whose flowers are flames lit to the Lady.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">She it is Queen Under The Hill<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">whose hosts are a disturbance of words within words <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">that is a field folded.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is only a dream of the grass blowing <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">east against the source of the sun <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">in an hour before the sun's going down<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">whose secret we see in a children's game <o:p></o:p></span></div><strong> </strong><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">of ring a round of roses told.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Often I am permitted to return to a meadow <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">as if it were a given property of the mind <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">that certain bounds hold against chaos,<o:p></o:p></span></div><strong> </strong><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><br />
</div><strong> </strong><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">that is a place of first permission,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">everlasting omen of what is.</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div><strong> </strong></td><strong> </strong><td style="background-color: transparent; border: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 1.5pt;"></td><strong> </strong></tr>
<strong> </strong></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><strong> </strong></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><strong> </strong></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Opening of the Field, </i>page 7:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New Directions Paperback, New York, NY © 1973)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"> </div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"> </div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="background-color: transparent; border: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 1.5pt;"></td> </tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></h3><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 1.5pt 1.5pt 1.5pt 1.5pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 100%;"><tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;"> <td style="background-color: transparent; border: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 1.5pt; width: 80%;" valign="top" width="80%"></td> <td nowrap="" style="background-color: transparent; border: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 1.5pt;" valign="top"> <div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 7.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;"> <td colspan="2" style="background-color: transparent; border: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 1.5pt;"></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;"> <td colspan="2" style="background-color: transparent; border: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 1.5pt;"></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"> <td style="background-color: transparent; border: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 1.5pt;" valign="top"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><br />
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</span>Joel Thomas Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01038366206601829197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050421304602413661.post-38522064711368146152012-03-05T12:27:00.014-08:002012-03-05T12:38:27.933-08:00BedsideElementary school art teachers are fond of saying "It's not the product but the process" -- it's not so much what the finished art object looks like, but rather that the child enjoys the creative experience itself. The poem-pair below shows how a poet can focus either on a process or on an end-result.<br />
<br />
In Sharon Olds' poem "The Race," the speaker relates a (literally) breath-taking journey through an airport and then onto an airplane in order to reach the bedside of an ailing father. Olds conveys the travail through her choice of particular details: the rush, the panic, the running, the suitcase banging against her, and the last dash into the airplane just as the gate is closing. Note how she uses an almost religious tone:<br />
<br />
I blessed my<br />
long legs he gave me, my strong <br />
heart I abandoned to its own purpose . . .<br />
<br />
Like one who is not<br />
too rich, I turned sideways and<br />
slipped through the needle's eye . . . The jet<br />
was full, and people's hair was shining, they were <br />
smiling, the interior of the plane was filled with a<br />
mist of gold endorphin light,<br />
I wept as people weep as they enter heaven,<br />
in massive relief.<br />
<br />
In contrast, Jane Hirschfield's "Talc" spends very little time getting <em>to</em> the bedside<br />
<br />
Twenty minutes<br />
and I was gone, there was a plane, <br />
and another, there was a friend who took<br />
me to you, you were asleep.<br />
<br />
and instead focuses on the experience of being <em>at</em> the bedside. And that experience, while visceral, is also intuitive:<br />
<br />
They had washed you,<br />
I barely noticed the yellow stains and the blood<br />
that remained on your skin. They had cut you,<br />
I did not see the bandages holding the length<br />
of the chest, they lay where I should have been <br />
lying, I did not understand . . .<br />
The slash stapling the crease of your thigh was <br />
nothing. When the nurse turned the white valve<br />
near the collarbones' nest before opening one<br />
on the wrist, there was not one cell of my body<br />
that needed to understand . . .<br />
I waited. I knew that the sweetness I smelled<br />
on your body was powder, was baby powder, I did<br />
not understand, but I knew that they had given you back<br />
to this world for a second time and I waited<br />
for you to agree. I waited for you to open your eyes,<br />
a first time, then another, another. I waited until<br />
you were sure, until every part of you stayed.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3 align="center" style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc318209776"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299567201"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299567127"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299566464"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299566406"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299566292"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299482585"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299476302"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299475543"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299474035"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299309158"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299474035;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475543;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476302;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482585;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566292;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566406;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566464;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567127;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567201;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc318209776;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">The Race<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Sharon Olds)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></h3><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">When I got to the airport I rushed up to the desk,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">bought a ticket, ten minutes later<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">they told me the flight was cancelled, the doctors<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">had said my father would not live through the night<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and the flight was cancelled. A young man<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">with a dark blond moustache told me<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">another airline had a non-stop<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">leaving in seven minutes. See that<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">elevator over there, well go<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">down to the first floor, make a right, you’ll<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">see a yellow bus, get off at the<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">second Pan Am terminal, I<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">ran, I who have no sense of direction<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">raced exactly where he’d told me, a fish<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">slipping upstream deftly against<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the flow of the river. I jumped off that bus with those<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">bags I had thrown everything into<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">in five minutes, and ran, the bags<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">wagged me from side to side as if<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">to prove I was under the claims of the material,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I ran up to the man with the white flower on his breast,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I who always go to the end of the line, I said<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Help me</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">. He looked at my ticket, he said<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Make a left and then a right, go up the moving stairs and then<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">run. I lumbered up the moving stairs,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">at the top I saw the corridor,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and then I took a deep breath, I said<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Goodbye to my body, goodbye to comfort,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I used my legs and heart as if I would<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">gladly use them up for this,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">to touch him again in this life. I ran, and the <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">bags banged me, wheeled and coursed<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">in skewed orbits, I have seen pictures of<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">women running, their belongings tied<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">in scarves grasped in their fists, I blessed my<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">long legs he gave me, my strong<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">heart I abandoned to its own purpose,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I ran to Gate 17 and they were<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">just lifting the thick white<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">lozenge of the door to fit into<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the socket of the plane. Like the one who is not<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">too rich, I turned sideways and<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">slipped through the needle’s eye, and then<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I walked down the aisle toward my father. The jet<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">was full, and people’s hair was shining, they were<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">smiling, the interior of the plane was filled with a<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">mist of gold endorphin light,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I wept as people weep when they enter heaven,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">in massive relief. We lifted up<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">gently from one tip of the continent<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and did not stop until we set down lightly on the<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">other edge, I walked into his room<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and watched his chest rise slowly<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and sink again, all night<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I watched him breathe.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> (from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Father, </i>page 26:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY ©1992)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><h3 align="center" style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc318209777"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299567202"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299567128"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299566465"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299566407"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299566293"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299482586"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299476303"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299475544"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299474036"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299309159"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299474036;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475544;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476303;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482586;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566293;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566407;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566465;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567128;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567202;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc318209777;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">Talc<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Jane Hirshfield)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></h3><h3 align="center" style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><o:p></o:p></span></span> </h3><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">When you phoned I was far, and sleeping,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">but they brought me the message and I ran,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I ran to the phone where you were,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">you were speaking, we two were speaking,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">when I ran back to the room I no longer<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">knew we would speak again. Twenty minutes<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and I was gone, there was a plane,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and another, there was a friend who took<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">me to you, you were sleep. I didn’t know<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">there was still any question, I only learned<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">later, everything later, weeks later I was<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">still frightened of all that I learned.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I swear though I knew it was there I scarcely<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">saw the hose taped to your mouth, its ridges<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">that breathed in case you did not; scarcely saw<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the twin tubes coming out of your chest or<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the blood running through them and into the pump<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">that returned to your wrist, quietly, steadily,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">what belonged there. The slenderer tubes<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">that entered the side of your neck I scarcely<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">noticed; not the empty ones waiting for something<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">not needed, not the ones drawing fluids<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">from three labeled bags. They had washed you,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I barely noticed the yellow stains and the blood<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">that remained on your skin. They had cut you,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I did not see the bandages holding the length<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of the chest, they lay where I should have been<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">lying, I did not understand. I did not see<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the wounds on your side where some scalpel or saw<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">had been dropped or some heated or iced tool<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">had burned. The monitor’s chiming was nothing,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">someone would come, they would turn it off.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The slash stapling the crease of your thigh was<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">nothing. When the nurse turned the white valve<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">near the collarbones’ nest before opening one<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">on the wrist, there was not one cell of my body<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">that needed to understand. I barely felt the bars<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">where my hand fitted into your hand, the rail<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">that days afterward still tracked my cheek.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The urine that drained to the sack below us must<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">have been warm, I must have touched it, I should<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">have known it was warm with your warmth but I did not.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I waited. I knew that the sweetness I smelled<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">on your body was powder, was baby powder, I did<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">not understand, but I knew they had given you back<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">to this world for a second time and I waited<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">for you to agree. I waited for you to open your eyes,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">a first time, another, another. I waited until<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">you were sure, until every part of you stayed. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> (from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Lives of the Heart, </i>pages 105-106:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Harper Perennial, New York, NY ©1997)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div>Joel Thomas Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01038366206601829197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050421304602413661.post-56974074535952278752012-02-24T18:03:00.060-08:002012-02-24T20:29:45.264-08:00Yes<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The word "yes" has many nuances. It can mean <i>I'm listening </i>or <i>I'm following what you're saying</i> or <i>I agree</i>. It can signal the beginning of an interaction, as when you enter a store and the salesperson says "Yes?" . In Molly Bloom's soliloquy at the end of James Joyce's book <i>Ulysses</i>, the recurring word "yes" moves from simply marking various memories to become the embodiment of the sensual.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the Terry Adams poem "Breath" , the word "yes" signals the speaker's ever-increasing amazement at the experience of being alive and all its attendant complexities.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 5pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They told me when I awoke to this body <br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>each breath will taste my blood<br />
with the tongue of every creature that has lived, <br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and I said yes.<br />
And the air I breathe will be torn by rocks<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>abraded by fans and bruised in the factories <br />
of steel, and I said yes.</span></blockquote></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The poem ratchets up its ecstatic (and perhaps apocalyptic) vision even more:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The air will stir the wet of my body<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in the ocean of bodies, and in shared bodies <br />
of hives and cities, and in the poisons, <br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and I said yes, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 5pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I will breathe air that has passed through the nail holes <br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>punched by children into jar lids <br />
to save the lives of fireflies, and I say yes.</span></div></blockquote></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And just when you think the speaker couldn't possibly go any further, the poem concludes with </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> I will blow a cloud on the final mirror<br />
of the dying, before the cistern of silence cracks, <br />
and I will make a quick slate <br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>for fingers shouting behind cold glass,<br />
saying yes.</span></blockquote></span>A fine example of how the feeling of expansiveness is grounded in the body and in the facts of that world.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In W.S. Merwin’s under-punctuated poem “Yesterday,” the narrator starts out being a sympathetic listener as an acquaintance recounts a family incident: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My friend says I was not a good son <br />
you understand <br />
I say yes I understand <br />
<br />
he says I did not go <br />
to see my parents very often you know <br />
and I say yes I know <br />
<br />
even when I was living in the same city he says <br />
maybe I would go there once <br />
a month or maybe even less <br />
I say oh yes </span></blockquote></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But over the course of the poem, the narrator becomes uneasy with this story:</span> </span><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">he says the last time I saw my father <br />
he was asking me about my life <br />
how I was making out and he <br />
went into the next room <br />
to get something to give me <br />
<br />
oh I say <br />
feeling again the cold <br />
of my [own] fathers hand the last time </span></blockquote></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Maybe the narrator no longer feels sympathetic: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">he says my father <br />
said maybe <br />
you have important work you are doing <br />
or maybe you should be seeing <br />
somebody I dont want to keep you <br />
<br />
I look out the window <br />
my friend is older than I am</span></blockquote><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The poem ends matter-of-factly with the cold truth of the acquaintance: </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">he says and I told my father it was so <br />
and I got up and left him then <br />
you know <br />
<br />
though there was nowhere I had to go <br />
and nothing I had to do </span></blockquote><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Breath<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Terry Adams)</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">They told me when I awoke to this body <br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>each breath will taste my blood<br />
with the tongue of every creature that has lived, <br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and I said yes.<br />
And the air I breathe will be torn by rocks<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>abraded by fans and bruised in the factories <br />
of steel, and I said yes.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">And they said the ants have a right to this breath <br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as much as I, and it erases their paths <br />
as they walk and as easily, <br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it erases mine.<br />
They said my breath will read me from inside <br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with its licking torch as if I were a cave,<br />
and I said yes.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">And the air will carry the breathless<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>patience of stone and the seething heat<br />
of asphalt and scatter me from the memories<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>as flickeringly as footsteps,<br />
and I said yes,<br />
The air will stir the wet of my body<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in the ocean of bodies, and in shared bodies <br />
of hives and cities, and in the poisons, <br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and I said yes, </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I will breathe air that has passed through the nail holes <br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>punched by children into jar lids <br />
to save the lives of fireflies, and I say yes.<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will breathe the force that blows windrows <br />
in snow, and rubs waves in the sand,<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>strips topsoil from farmlands<br />
and makes the cypress cringe from the sea.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Though it is sour with dreams and loud <br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with sickness it will run beside my heart<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>like a young girl beside a horse,<br />
it will forgive my legs for running,<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and chase my mind away<br />
from its fear, and I say yes,<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I will blow into whirlwinds in the breath <br />
of my lover, and into sea storms I will fly to be healed,</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and to the vastness inside clouds I will go <br />
for rest, and I will wash out my tears <br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with the mist blown from white caps, <br />
and disperse my venom in daggers of sunlight, <br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and I say yes,<br />
I will torture my vision through<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with the everlasting scanning of seabirds, yes,<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I will breathe each layer from the horizon,<br />
and hush my thoughts in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the deepest calm of caves, </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and ripple the slow, sunken rivers, like sleep,<br />
then whistle through blow‑holes hidden in thickets<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>linking the underground to the sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
I will whisper through the perforated coinage of sewer lids,<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will lie down in hot valleys <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>with the breath <br />
of vegetables, <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>and I will say yes.<br />
I will breathe a clear cloud of silk around my heart,<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and wear a frayed scarf of fire, </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I will breathe what determines the path<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of falling feathers,<br />
and blows the snow from the seared summits<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of mountains. I will stay trapped <br />
a thousand years in a tomb until a mouse will free me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I will blow a cloud on the final mirror<br />
of the dying, before the cistern of silence cracks, <br />
and I will make a quick slate <br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>for fingers shouting behind cold glass,<br />
saying yes. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Adam's Ribs,</i> Off the Grid Press, Somerville, MA © 2008) </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Yesterday (W.S. Merwin)</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My friend says I was not a good son <br />
you understand <br />
I say yes I understand <br />
<br />
he says I did not go <br />
to see my parents very often you know <br />
and I say yes I know <br />
<br />
even when I was living in the same city he says <br />
maybe I would go there once <br />
a month or maybe even less <br />
I say oh yes <br />
<br />
he says the last time I went to see my father <br />
I say the last time I saw my father <br />
<br />
he says the last time I saw my father <br />
he was asking me about my life <br />
how I was making out and he <br />
went into the next room <br />
to get something to give me <br />
<br />
oh I say <br />
feeling again the cold <br />
of my fathers hand the last time <br />
he says and my father turned <br />
in the doorway and saw me <br />
look at my wristwatch and he <br />
said you know I would like you to stay <br />
and talk with me <br />
<br />
oh yes I say <br />
<br />
but if you are busy he said <br />
I don't want you to feel that you <br />
have to <br />
just because I'm here <br />
<br />
I say nothing <br />
<br />
<a href="" name="OLE_LINK2"></a><a href="" name="OLE_LINK1"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: black;">he says my father <br />
said maybe <br />
you have important work you are doing <br />
or maybe you should be seeing <br />
somebody I dont want to keep you <br />
<br />
I look out the window <br />
my friend is older than I am </span></span></a><span style="color: black;">he says and I told my father it was so <br />
and I got up and left him then <br />
you know <br />
<br />
though there was nowhere I had to go <br />
and nothing I had to do</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <em>Selected Poems,</em> pages 257-258<em>,</em> Atheneum, New York, NY © 1988) </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div></span></span> </div>Joel Thomas Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01038366206601829197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050421304602413661.post-20210176788892860122012-02-18T21:52:00.000-08:002012-02-18T21:52:15.552-08:00Stones, pebbles, and a bonus poemIt's time to honor the Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska, winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature, who died on February 1st 2012 at age 88. The Nobel committee described her as the "Mozart of poetry" but with "something of the fury of Beethoven." Her poem "Conversation with a Stone" is beguilingly simple yet reveals the complexity, not to mention the bravery, of facing one's poetic muse. After the speaker verbally wrestles with the stone in over ten stanzas, the poem ends<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">I knock at the stone's front door.<br />
"It's only me, let me come in."<br />
<br />
I don't have a door," says the stone.</blockquote>Szymborska's compatriot Zbigniew Herbert (1924-1998) finds the lowly pebble to be just as inscrutable:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">Pebbles cannot be tamed<br />
to the end they will look at us<br />
with a calm eye and very clear eye</blockquote>though Herbert admits that a pebble's<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">ardour and coldness<br />
are just and full of dignity</blockquote>In contrast to this poem-pair, the American poet laureate Charles Simic (who was born and spent his formative years in Yugoslavia) has an easier time getting at the essence of a stone. Here's the opening of this blog's "bonus poem": <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">Go inside a stone<br />
That would be my way.<br />
Let somebody else become a dove<br />
Or gnash with a tiger's tooth.<br />
I am happy to be a stone.</blockquote><h3 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"></span></span></span> </h3><h3 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> </span></span><a href="" name="_Toc317256914"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">Conversation with a Stone <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Wislawa Szymborska)</span></a></span></h3><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I knock at the stone’s front door.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“It’s only me, let me come in.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I want to enter your insides,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">have a look round, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">breathe my fill of you.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“Go away,” says the stone.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“I’m shut tight.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Even if you break me to pieces, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">we’ll all still be closed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">You can grind us to sand,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">we still won’t let you in.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I knock at the stone’s front door.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“It’s only me, let me come in.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I’ve come out of pure curiosity.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Only life can quench it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I mean to stroll through your palace, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">then go calling on a leaf, a drop of water.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I don’t have much time.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">My mortality should touch you.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“I’m made of stone,” says the stone.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“and must therefore keep a straight face.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Go away.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I don’t have the muscles to laugh.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I knock at the stone’s front door.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“It’s only me, let me come in.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I hear you have great empty halls inside you,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">unseen, their beauty in vain,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">soundless, not echoing anyone’s steps.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Admit you don’t know them well yourself.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“Great and empty, true enough,” says the stone,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“but there isn’t any room.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Beautiful, perhaps, but not to the taste</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of your poor senses.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">You may get to know me, but you’ll never know me through.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">My whole surface is turned toward you,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">all my insides turned away.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I knock at the stone’s front door.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“It’s only me, let me come in.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I don’t seek refuge for eternity.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I’m not unhappy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I’m not homeless.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">My world is worth returning to.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I’ll enter and exit empty-handed</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And my proof I was there</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">will be only words,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">which no one will believe.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“You shall not enter,” says the stone.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“You lack the sense of taking part.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">No other sense can make up for your missing sense of taking part.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Even sight heightened to become all-seeing</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">will do you no good without a sense of taking part.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">You shall not enter, you have only a sense of what that sense </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">should be,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">only its seed, imagination.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I knock at the stone’s front door.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“It’s only me, let me come in.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I haven’t got two thousand centuries, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">so let me come under your roof.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">If you don’t believe me,” says the stone,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“just ask the leaf, it will tell you the same.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Ask a drop of water, it will say what the leaf has said.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And, finally, ask a hair from your own head.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I am bursting with laughter, yes, laughter, vast laughter,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">although I don’t know how to laugh.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I knock at the stone’s front door.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“It’s only me, let me come in.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“I don’t have a door,” says the stone.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i>Poems New and Collected 1957–1997</i>, pages 62-64, translated from the Polish by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh, Harcourt, Inc, Orlando, Florida © 1998) </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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<br />
<h3 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> </span></span><a href="" name="_Toc317256915"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">Pebble <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Zbigniew Herbert)</span></a></span></h3><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The pebble </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">is a perfect creature</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">equal to itself</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">mindful of its limits</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">filled exactly</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">with a pebbly meaning</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">with a scent that does not remind one of anything</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">does not frighten anyone away does not arouse desire</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Its ardour and coldness</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">are just and full of dignity</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I feel a heavy remorse</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">when I hold it in my hand</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and its noble body</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">is permeated by false warmth</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>—Pebbles cannot be tamed</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to the end they will look at us</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with a calm and very clear eye</span></div><h1 style="margin: 24pt 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </h1><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i>Selected Poems</i>, page 108, translated from the Polish by Czeslaw Milosz and Peter Dale Scott, The Ecco Press, Hopewell, NJ © 1968) </span></div><br />
<br />
<h3 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> </span></span><a href="" name="_Toc317256916"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">Stone <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Charles Simic)</span></a><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> </span></span></h3><h3 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></h3><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Go inside a stone</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">That would be my way.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Let somebody else become a dove</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Or gnash with a tiger’s tooth.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I am happy to be a stone.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">From the outside the stone is a riddle:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">No one knows how to answer it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Even though a cow steps on it full weight,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Even though a child throws it into a river;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The stone sinks, slow, unperturbed</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">To the river bottom</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Where the fished come to knock on it</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And listen.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I have seen sparks fly out</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">When two stones are rubbed,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So perhaps it is not dark inside after all;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Perhaps there is a moon shining</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">From somewhere, as though behind a hill—</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Just enough light to make out</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The strange writings, the start-charts</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">On the inner walls.</span></div><h1 style="margin: 24pt 0in 0pt;"></h1><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i>What the Grass Says</i>, George Braziller, New York, NY © 1967) </span></div>Joel Thomas Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01038366206601829197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050421304602413661.post-29952409706868726072012-02-10T23:42:00.000-08:002012-02-10T23:42:26.416-08:00"Fire"In Mark Doty's poem "House of Beauty," the title phrase becomes a recurring echo at the end of each stanza. And like a growing fire, each succeeding stanza becomes one line longer as the poet reveals more and more about the fire-engulfed establishment.<br />
<br />
What a treasure-trove of sonorous details the poet shares! And note how by the end of the poem, this particular <em>House of Beauty</em> has transformed into all instances of the beautiful-yet-threatened:<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">. . . in among the crèmes and thrones,</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the helmets and clippers and combs</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> . . .</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">n the dark recess beside the sink</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">—where heads lay back to be laved</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">under the perfected heads rowed along the walls—</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">. . . a new plume of smoke joining the others,</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">billow of dark thought rising</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">from that broken forehead of the House of Beauty</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">. . . jagged glass jutting like cracked ice</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">in the window frame . . .</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">. . . The world as it is (for which Jersey City stands in nicely)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">torches the houses of beauty wherever it finds them.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></blockquote><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">While the beauty salon is destroyed by a fire, the main character in Lisa Allen Ortiz's poem manages to survive a blaze. Where Mark Doty's poem is conveyed by a disembodied observer, the Ortiz poem contains a whole cast of characters--<em>he, my friend, we, a firefighter</em>--including a tortoise with a considerable world-view, who by turns is both a philosopher and a wise-cracker. We learn what he says and what he doesn't say.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">By the end of the poem, the focus shifts back to the speaker. She is quite willing to detach herself from the travails of the tortoise. But what about her own children?</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I go home. He's not my problem. From my window</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I see my children running in from school, their backpacks</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">bouncing. It is January. They are young.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I have lots of time.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></blockquote><br />
<h3 align="center" style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="" name="_Toc315015025"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567195"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567121"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566458"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566400"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566286"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299482579"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299476296"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299475537"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299474029"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299309152"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299474029;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475537;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476296;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482579;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566286;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566400;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566458;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567121;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567195;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc315015025;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">House of Beauty (Mark Doty)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></h3><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In Jersey City, on Tonnelle Avenue,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the House of Beauty is burning.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">On a Sunday morning in January,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">under the chilly shadow of the Pulaski Skyway, </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the House of Beauty is burning.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Who lobbed the firebottle through the glass,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">in among the crèmes and thrones,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the helmets and clippers and combs,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">who set the House of beauty burning?</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In the dark recess beside the sink</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">—where heads lay back to be laved</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">under the perfected heads rowed along the walls—</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the hopeful photographs of possibility darken,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">now that the House of Beauty is burning.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The Skyway beetles in the ringing cold,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">trestle arcing the steel river and warehouses,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">truck lots and Indian groceries,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">a new plume of smoke joining the others,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">billow of dark thought rising</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">from that broken forehead of the House of Beauty</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">—an emission almost too small to notice, just now,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the alarm still ringing, the flames new-launched</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">on their project of ruining an effort at pleasure,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">jagged glass jutting like cracked ice</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">in the window frame, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">All things by nature</i>,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">wrote Virgil, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">are ready to get worse</i>;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">no surprise, then, that the House of Beauty is burning.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">We do not live here, the Fire Department’s on the way,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">so we’re at leisure to consider motive.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Personal enmity, arbitrary malice?</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">A will to pull down the forms of order,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">hungry for an end? Or for equity:</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">If we can’t have beauty, you won’t have it either</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">?</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The world as it is (for which Jersey City stands in nicely)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">torches the houses of beauty wherever it finds them.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New and Selected Poems, </i>pages 16-17:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>HarperCollins, New York, NY, © 2008)</span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" /></span><br />
<h3 align="center" style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="" name="_Toc315015026"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567196"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567122"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566459"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566401"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566287"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299482580"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299476297"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299475538"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299474030"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299309153"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299474030;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475538;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476297;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482580;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566287;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566401;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566459;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567122;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567196;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc315015026;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">The Tortoise Survives the Fire (Lisa Allen Ortiz)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></h3><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">He’s at my friend’s house now.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In the driveway, we watch him</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">with our arms crossed, the beer-stained</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">winter light seeping through fence, vines.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">He’s the size of a coffee table</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">80 years or so they say, dumb-ass slow</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">but with cinder-burn eyes.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">He eats nasturtiums. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We have our health</i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">he says to us. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Suffering and the end of suffering</i>, he says.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">He does not say <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">carpe diem</i>. He does</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">not say <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bombs away, bottoms up</i>. Nor does</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">He say <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the Good Lord will provide</i>.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">He does not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">say I’ve been lucky</i>. He does not say:</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">They had it coming</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The house was burned to rubble, ash,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">skeletons of charred beams. The humans survived</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">because they were out. The bird</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">(exotic, singing, caged) died. A firefighter</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">found the tortoise in the ash, walking out the melted</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">garden gate, all blessed in soot.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">He said: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You think that was hot,</i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">let me tell you about this South American tortoise I knew</span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">in ’68</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">. Not really. There’s nothing glib</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">about survival. Is there.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So either it was a miracle or a thick shell.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The tortoise shakes his head.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Everybody wants wings</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">, he says, but not in a gloating way.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I go home. He’s not my problem. From my window</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I see my children running in from school, their backpacks</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">bouncing. It is January. They are young.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I have lots of time.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.poems.com/"><span style="color: blue;">www.poems.com</span></a> </i>, © 2009)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span></span></span>Joel Thomas Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01038366206601829197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050421304602413661.post-22177163471732121332012-02-04T20:53:00.000-08:002012-02-04T21:05:50.712-08:00"Bees"<div class="post-header"><div class="post-header-line-1"></div></div><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Given the recent scientific concern about the health of bee colonies and the ramifications for pollination and agriculture, it's time for a pair of poems about bees.</span></div><div class="post-body entry-content"></div><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;">Sylvia Plath's "The Arrival of the Bee Box" is not objective and scientific. Instead, the speaker signals her unease through words like <em>din, dangerous, moon suit, funeral veil</em>.</span></div><div class="post-body entry-content"></div><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;"></span><span style="font-family: Times;"></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;">It is the noise that appalls me most of all,</span></div><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;">The unintelligible syllables.</span></div><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;">It is like a Roman mob . . .</span></div><div class="post-body entry-content"></div><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;">I lay my ear to furious Latin.</span></div><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;">I am not the Caesar.</span></div><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;">I have simply ordered a box of maniacs.</span></div></blockquote></div><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;">Plath's poem concludes with an implied threat:</span></div><div class="post-body entry-content"></div><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;"></span><span style="font-family: Times;"></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;">Tomorow I will be sweet God, I will set them free.</span></div><div class="post-body entry-content"></div><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;">The box is only temporary.</span></div></blockquote></div><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;">In "Telling the Bees" by Deborah Digges, the speaker faces a different task, one that is unavoidable: dealing with the death of a loved one. True, the Digges poem also conveys the sonic horror of the bee colony:</span></div><div class="post-body entry-content"></div><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;"></span><span style="font-family: Times;"></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;">. . . I set out, this once</span></div><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;">obedient, toward the hives' domed skeps</span></div><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;">on evening's hill, five tombs alight.</span></div><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;">I thought I heard the thrash and moaning</span></div><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;">of confinement . . .</span></div></blockquote></div><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;">Or is that confinement not of the bees within the hive but of the beloved's soul upon death?</span></div><div class="post-body entry-content"></div><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;"></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;">The voice that found me gave the news.</span></div><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;">Up flew the bees toward his orchards.</span></div></blockquote></div><div class="post-body entry-content"><span style="font-family: Times;">Note the subtle choice of words: not "I found the voice" to be able to face the fact of his death, but rather "The voice that found <em>me</em>" [emphasis mine]. And perhaps unlike Sylvia Plath's bees, which will probably be allowed to remain, the bees in the Digges poem are released, like the soul of the departed.</span><br />
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<h2 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc315015021"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299567191"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299567117"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299566454"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299566396"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299566282"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299482575"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299476292"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299475533"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299474025"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299567192"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299567118"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299566455"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299566397"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299566283"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299482576"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299476293"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299475534"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299474026"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299309149"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299474026;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475534;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476293;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482576;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566283;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566397;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566455;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567118;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567192;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc315015022"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567192;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567118;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566455;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566397;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566283;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482576;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476293;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475534;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299474026;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299309149;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">The Arrival of the Bee Box (Sylvia Plath)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></h2><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I ordered this, this clean wood box</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Square as a chair and almost too heavy to lift.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I would say it was the coffin of a midget</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Or a square baby</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Were there not such a din in it.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The box is locked, it is dangerous.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I have to live with it overnight</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And I can’t keep away from it.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There are no windows, so I can’t see what is in there.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There is only a little grid, no exit.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I put my eye to the grid.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It is dark, dark,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">With the swarmy feeling of African hands</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Minute and shrunk for export,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Black on black, angrily clambering.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">How can I let them out?</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It is the noise that appalls me most of all,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The unintelligible syllables.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It is like a Roman mob,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Small, taken one by one, but my god, together!</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I lay my ear to furious Latin.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I am not the Caesar.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I have simply ordered a box of maniacs.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">They can be sent back.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">They can die, I need feed them nothing, I am the owner.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I wonder how hungry they are.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I wonder if they would forget me</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">If I just undid the locks and stood back and turned into a tree.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There is the laburnum, its blond colonnades,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And the petticoats of the cherry.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">They might ignore me immediately</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In my moon suit and funeral veil.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I am no source of honey</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So why should they turn on me?</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Tomorrow I will be sweet God, I will set them free.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The box is only temporary.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath, </i>editor Ted Hughes<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, </i>pages 212-213:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Harper Perennial, New York, NY © 2001)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br />
</div><h3 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299567193"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299567119"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299566456"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299566398"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299566284"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299482577"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299476294"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299475535"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299474027"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299309150"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299474027;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475535;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476294;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482577;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566284;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566398;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566456;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567119;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567193;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc315015023"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567193;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567119;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566456;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566398;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566284;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482577;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476294;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475535;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299474027;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299309150;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">Telling the Bees (Deborah Digges)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></h3><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It fell to me to tell the bees,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">though I had wanted another duty—</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">to be the scribbler at his death, </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">there chart the third day’s quickening.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">But fate said no, it falls to you</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">to tell the bees, the middle daughter.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So it was written at your birth.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I wanted to keep the fire, working</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the constant arranging and shifting</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of the coals blown flaring,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">my cheeks flushed red,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">my bed laid down before the fire,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">myself anonymous among the strangers</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">there who’d come and go.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">But destiny said no. It falls</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">to you to tell the bees, it said.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I wanted to be the one to wash his linens,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">boiling the death-soiled sheets,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">using the waters for my tea.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I might have been the one to seal</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">his solitude with mud and thatch and string,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the webs he parted every morning,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the hounds’ hair combed from brushes,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the dust swept into piles with sparrows’ feathers.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Who makes the laws that live</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">inside the brick and mortar of a name,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Selects the seeds, garden or wild,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">brings forth the foliage grown up around it</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">through drought or blight or blossom, </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the honey darkening in the bitter years,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the combs like funeral lace or wedding veils</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">steeped in oak gall and rainwater,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">sequined of rent wings.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And so arrayed I set out, this once</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">obedient, toward the hives’ domed skeps</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">on evening’s hill, five tombs alight.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I thought I heard the thrash and moaning</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of confinement, beyond the century,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">a calling across dreams, </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">as if asked to make haste just out of sleep.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I knelt and waited.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The voice that found me gave the news.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Up flew the bees toward his orchards.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Trapeze: Poems, </i>pages 5-6: Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY © 2005)</span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" /></span> </div><div class="post-body entry-content"></div>Joel Thomas Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01038366206601829197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050421304602413661.post-26619245754452773822012-01-28T11:33:00.000-08:002012-01-28T11:33:05.085-08:00"Death"Such a weighty topic. How do poets avoid sounding ponderous when they deal with it?<br />
<br />
One way is to follow the adage "show, don't tell." Since poems are instances of shared consciousness (as poet David St. John is fond of saying ), let the poem evoke that bit of consciousness, rather than explicitly telling us what feelings we should be feeling.<br />
<br />
Catherine Barnett's poem is slight. She simply describes an event where she was present. The beads themselves weigh practically nothing, yet the central character collects "the round <em>weights</em>" (emphasis mine) and has yet to restring them.<br />
<br />
Maud Kelly's poem, on the other hand, seems to do a lot of telling: those amazing cows with windows, plus a curious dare and its follow-through. Yet does the poem relate to its title <em>What I Think of Death, If</em> <em>Anyone's Asking</em> ? Perhaps the answer is indirect: consider the opening of the third stanza:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">. . . reached the point I always know<br />
would come, when I was at once too old and far<br />
too young, how I knew, really for the first time </blockquote>Knew what? That "there's a wildness in us" ? Or maybe that this wildness stems from the sudden yet eventual realization that we're mortal?<br />
<br />
<h3 align="center" style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="" name="_Toc315015019"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567189"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567115"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566452"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566394"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566280"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299482573"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299476290"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299475531"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299474023"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299309146"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299474023;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475531;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476290;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482573;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566280;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566394;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566452;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567115;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567189;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc315015019;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">Into Perfect Spheres Such Holes Are Pierced (Catherine Barnett)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></h3><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">We unstrung necklaces into two glass bowls</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and passed them around to the mourners.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The beads were onyx, agate, quartz, all manner</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of stone. Everyone was to take two</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and at the end of the service</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">put one back into my sister’s hands.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">What could she do but collect</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the round weights all night?</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">She has not restrung them,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">not wanting to be finished yet with death.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Into Perfect Spheres Such Holes are Pierced, </i>page 23:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alice James Books, Farmington, ME © 2004)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><h3 align="center" style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="" name="_Toc315015020"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567190"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567116"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566453"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566395"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566281"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299482574"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299476291"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299475532"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299474024"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299309147"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299474024;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475532;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476291;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482574;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566281;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566395;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566453;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567116;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567190;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc315015020;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">What I Think of Death, If Anyone’s Asking (Maud Kelly)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></h3><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Let me tell you about the cows, how scientists driven</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">by some dark need to see them digest, really see it,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">cut holes in the sides of twenty and inserted glass</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">tinged with plastic there, riveted it to their skin,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">creating in each a porthole, so that when they stood</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">together, sleepily chewing, at the icy edge of a Missouri</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">sunrise they looked not unlike a fleet of cow ships, moored</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">illogically to a barn, bobbing on a sea of frozen sod.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Let me tell you how I stumbled, nineteen and drunk,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">across a field to touch one on a dare—<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the window</i>,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the boy had hissed, shoving the bottle at me</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">for one last drink, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">it has to be the window</i>—</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">how I moved, stubbing my feet, shivering woozy,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">eyes half-mooned from groping, and was almost there,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">hoping the boy was watching, impressed,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and aroused, his eyes blazing with the joke of it all,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">how, then, from nowhere and all at once the long arm</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of time’s elliptical arc swooped in, wrapped me</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">in its cello-thin line, how I stopped, looked at the cows,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">wondered what they must see coming toward them,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">what monster upon them now, mad with curiosity</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and no doubt a map of what to peel back next,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">having already torn open and plexiglassed</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">their stomachs, would it be their hearts, or would I take</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">their souls, undo the papery layers of their thoughts,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">pull the thread of their breath to unravel the tones of their lowing.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I am telling you how I reached the point I always know</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">would come, when I was at once too old and far</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">too young, how I knew, really knew for the first time</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">that there’s a wildness in us, how that made me sick</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">but I couldn’t go back, so I went toward the only cow</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">who watched not me but the sun, pink as a newborn,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">heaving itself through the trees. I went to her, leaned</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">my head on her back, the sun growing, the boy</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">turning, her belly reflecting the last of the stars.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Best American Poetry 2009, </i>editor<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>David Wagoner<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, </i>page 66:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scribner Poetry,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">New York, NY © 2009)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" /></span></div><br />
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</span>Joel Thomas Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01038366206601829197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050421304602413661.post-80172085513065367002012-01-21T07:21:00.000-08:002012-01-21T07:25:01.428-08:00<div class="widget Blog" id="Blog1"><div class="blog-posts hfeed"><div class="date-outer"><div class="date-posts"><div class="post hentry"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="2194848503635952929"></a></div><h3 class="post-title entry-title"><a href="http://katz-poempair.blogspot.com/2012/01/river.html"><span style="color: #888888;">"Body of Water"</span></a> </h3><div class="post-title entry-title"><br />
</div><div class="post hentry"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Since the previous posting was "River," let's continue with an aqueous theme. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Both of the poems below relate to a body of water, yet each poem does so with a slightly different focus. </span></div><div class="post hentry">At first blush, Jennifer Michael Hecht's "September" seems to be a melange of different thoughts. We learn where the speaker is situated in a most indirect way: </div><blockquote class="tr_bq">. . .</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">I let my oars fall into the water.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">. . .</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">My hand trails in the water.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">. . .</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">I should not have dropped those oars.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">. . .</blockquote>Initially, people are "getting what they want"; then they are "getting just what they need"; later, those people are "so happy / that they have forgotten to worry about tomorrow." <br />
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Hecht is smack dab in the middle of an experience. What we have is a meditation, and the poem embodies that very experience: different thoughts cross-cut each other in an associative, intuitive, manner. The poem does not proceed linearly because the mind typically carries out its work in a non-linear way.<br />
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<div class="post hentry">On the other hand, Mark Strand's "A Morning" proceeds in a noticeably linear fashion. The speaker sets off in a boat for Mosher Island, and the details of that journey are related in the order in which they are experienced. The speaker's realization is saved for the end: "saw for the first time / the one clear place . . ." . But for me, the key phrase is "I have carried it with me each day." That boat trip to Mosher Island has been recalled often, and its power/wonder is re-experienced by the speaker on a daily basis.</div><div class="post hentry">For Hecht's speaker, the (mystical) experience occurs only once, and we the readers are privileged to enter that singular, magical moment.</div><div class="post hentry">Poetry: so many different strategies -- ya gotta love it. </div><div class="post hentry"><br />
</div><h3 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299567186"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299567112"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299566449"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299566391"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299566277"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299482570"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299476287"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299475528"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299474020"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299309143"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299474020;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475528;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476287;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482570;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566277;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566391;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566449;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567112;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567186;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc313197638"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567186;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567112;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566449;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566391;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566277;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482570;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476287;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475528;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299474020;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299309143;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">September (Jennifer Michael Hecht)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></h3><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Tonight there must be people who are getting what they want.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I let my oars fall into the water.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Good for them, Good for them, getting what they want.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The night is so still that I forget to breathe.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The dark air is getting colder. Birds are leaving.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Tonight there are people getting just what they need.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The air is so still that it seems to stop my heart.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I remember you in a black and white photograph</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">taken this time of some year. You were leaning against a half-shed tree,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">standing in the leaves the tree had lost.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">When I finally exhale it takes forever to be over.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Tonight, there are people who are so happy,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">that they have forgotten to worry about tomorrow.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Somewhere, people have entirely forgotten about tomorrow.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">My hand trails in the water.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I should not have dropped those oars. Such a soft wind.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Next Ancient World</i>, page 32:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tupelo Press, Dorset, VT © 2001)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><h3 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299567187"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299567113"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299566450"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299566392"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299566278"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299482571"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299476288"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299475529"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299474021"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc299309144"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299474021;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475529;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476288;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482571;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566278;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566392;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566450;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567113;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567187;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="_Toc313197639"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567187;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567113;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566450;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566392;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566278;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482571;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476288;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475529;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299474021;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299309144;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">A Morning (Mark Strand)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></h3><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I have carried it with me each day: that morning I took</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">my uncle’s boat from the brown water cove</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and headed for Mosher Island.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Small waves splashed against the hull</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and the hollow creak of oarlock and oar</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">rose into the woods of black pine crusted with lichen.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I moved like a dark star, drifting over the drowned</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">other half of the world until, by a distant prompting,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I looked over the gunwale and saw beneath the surface</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">a luminous room, a light-filled grave, saw for the first time</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the one clear place given to us when we are alone.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New Selected Poems,</i> page 163:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY © 2009)</span></div><div class="post hentry"><br />
</div></div></div></div></div>Joel Thomas Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01038366206601829197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050421304602413661.post-21948485036359529292012-01-13T19:54:00.000-08:002012-01-13T19:54:31.513-08:00"River"<span style="font-family: inherit;">What is more natural, more appealing, more calming than a river? Yet there is a mysterious quality about rivers. And the two poems presented in this posting are fine examples of how language can be used to clearly communicate the mysterious aspects of a given situation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The first poem, by William Stafford, uses uncomplicated language, but what exactly does the river tell the speaker? ("What the river says, that is what I say.") And what is there about the moment "when the river is ice" that makes it a propitious time to think about "mistakes I have made" ?</span><br />
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In the second poem, Stanley Plumly uses straightforward language to convey a complicated situation: the difficulty of communicating.<br />
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How do these two poems approach the notion of mystery/difficulty in similar ways? in different ways?<br />
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<h2 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><a href="" name="_Toc313197635"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567183;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567109;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566446;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566388;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566274;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482567;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476284;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475525;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299474017;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299309140;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">Ask Me (William Stafford)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></h2><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Some time when the river is ice ask me</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">mistakes I have made. Ask me whether</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">what I have done is my life. Others</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">have come in their slow way into</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">my thought, and some have tried to help</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">or to hurt: ask me what difference</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">their strongest love or hate has made.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I will listen to what you say.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">You and I can turn and look</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">at the silent river and wait. We know</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the current is there, hidden; and there</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">are comings and goings from miles away</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">that hold the stillness exactly before us.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">What the river says, that is what I say.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Way It Is: New and Selected Poems</i>, page 56:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Graywolf Press, St. Paul, MN </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">© 1998)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><h3 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt;"><a href="" name="_Toc299567184"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567110"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566447"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566389"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566275"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299482568"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299476285"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299475526"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299474018"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299309141"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299474018;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475526;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476285;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482568;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566275;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566389;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566447;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567110;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567184;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><a href="" name="_Toc313197636"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567184;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567110;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566447;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566389;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566275;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482568;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476285;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475526;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299474018;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299309141;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">Wrong Side of the River (Stanley Plumly)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></h3><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I watched you on the wrong side</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of the river, waving. You were trying</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">to tell me something. You used both hands</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and sort of ran back and forth,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">as if to say <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">look behind you, look out</i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">behind you. </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I wanted to wave back</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">But you began shouting and I didn’t</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">want you to think I understood.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So I did nothing but stand still,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">thinking that’s what to do on the wrong side</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of the river. After a while, you did too.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">We stood like that for a long time. Then</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I raised a hand, as if to be called on,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and you raised a hand, as if to the same question.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Now That My Father Lies Down Beside Me: New and Selected Poems 1970-2000, </i>page 151:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ecco, an imprint of Harper Collins, New York, NY © 2000)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><br />
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</span>Joel Thomas Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01038366206601829197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050421304602413661.post-65708139299768757002012-01-07T22:42:00.000-08:002012-01-07T22:42:43.092-08:00Introduction and "Trees"<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In the preface to his 1998 book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Riffs & Reciprocities: Prose Pairs</i>, poet Stephen Dunn writes:</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I became intrigued with working in tangentially related pairs, each a discrete paragraph and as packed and pithy as I could fashion…I became fascinated with how I might make different ideas, claims, and stories </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">rub up against and inform each other.</span></span></div></blockquote><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in -9pt 0pt 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Here is a sample prose-pair of Dunn's:</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in -9pt 0pt 0in;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><h3 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> </span></span><a href="" name="_Toc313197628"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567176"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567102"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566439"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566381"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566268"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566381;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566439;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567102;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567176;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc313197628;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">Insurance</span></span></span></span></span></span></a></span></h3><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 1.25in 0pt 67.5pt; tab-stops: 5.25in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you insure your life it’s a bet for your heirs, which you win by dying. And a hedged bet for the big companies, who’ve already invested your premiums in commodities and futures. Kafka couldn’t have invented it any better. When I was 19, my father arranged a summer job for me with New York Life. All I had to do was take the psychological test, and I was in. “Do you ever have black, tarry bowel movements?” one of the questions asked, and I wavered, sure my answer would mean everything to New York Life. “Yes,” I decided, which couldn’t have been the only reason I flunked. My father was disappointed and I ashamed. And now I think my failure was a kind of insurance—the best I ever fell into—against doing such work. Ever since, I’ve tried to live my life so that living would be its own annuity, in its own time. A bet in the dark, the beneficiaries always in doubt.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br />
</div><h3 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> </span></span><a href="" name="_Toc313197629"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567177"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567103"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566440"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566382"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566269"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566382;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566440;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567103;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567177;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc313197629;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">Luck</span></span></span></span></span></span></a></span></h3><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 1.25in 0pt 67.5pt; tab-stops: 5.25in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Years ago at Aqueduct, my friend Joe, a Marxist, bet on a horse named Marxism in the third race. Its odds were 8 to 1, which seemed about right. And it won. Eighteen bucks for a two dollar bet; he didn’t share it with the masses, you can be sure. This is a true story about luck in the small. In the large, he had bet on a horse that immediately thereafter seemed to get old. Never won again. History’s always a bad bet, unless you play it to show. Even Tiresias and Cassandra’s inside dope didn’t alleviate any anguish or doom. No insurance possible for an ancient Greek. Yet I need to believe that luck can confound fate, change its course. I need to believe you can make a little of it out of research and nerve. The rest is a one-time gift, a nag that for a while gave some of us hope, like Marxism in the third.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 1.25in 0pt 67.5pt; tab-stops: 5.25in; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Riffs & Reciprocities: Prose Pairs</i>, pages 108-109: W.W. Norton & Company, New York, NY © 1998)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in -9pt 0pt 0in;"></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in -9pt 0pt 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">But what would happen if one paired <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">poems</i> against each other? Would rubbing two poems together create a fire that might further illuminate each one in terms of craft, imagery, musicality?</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">This blogspot is just such an experiment. Each posting will present a poem-pair.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> The poems in a given pair are related in varying degrees—sometimes obvious, sometimes fleeting and mysterious. Some poems are realistic, others are more philosophical. The poems appearing here may vary in length and structure. Some poems use formal devices like stanzas or lines of a particular rhythmic structure, while other poems go their own way, defining their strategy as they proceed.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Other than providing a brief label for the poem-pair, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I do not discuss any relationship between the poems. Instead, I leave it to the reader to discover and enjoy whatever linkages might exist.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In this inaugural posting, I feature a poem by Marvin Bell and a poem by Gerald Stern. (A full citation follows each poem.)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So, let the experiment begin! </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><h2 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><a href="" name="_Toc313197631"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567179"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567105"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566442"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566384"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566442;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567105;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567179;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc313197631;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria; font-size: medium;">Trees</span></span></span></span></span></a></h2><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br />
</div><h3 align="center" style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="" name="_Toc313197632"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567180"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567106"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566443"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566385"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566271"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299482564"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299476281"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299475522"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299474014"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299309137"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299474014;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475522;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476281;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482564;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566271;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566385;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566443;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567106;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567180;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc313197632;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">The Self and the Mulberry (Marvin Bell)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></h3><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I wanted to see the self, so I looked at the mulberry.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It had no trouble accepting its limits,</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">yet defining and redefining a small area</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">so that any shape was possible, any movement.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It stayed put, but was part of all the air.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I wanted to learn to be there and not there</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">like the continually changing, slightly moving</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">mulberry, wild cherry and particularly the willow.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Like the willow, I tried to weep without tears.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Like the cherry tree, I tried to be sturdy and productive.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Like the mulberry, I tried to keep moving.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I couldn’t cry right, couldn’t stay or go.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I kept losing parts of myself like the soft maple.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I fell ill like the elm. That was the end</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of looking in nature to find a natural self.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Let nature think itself not manly enough!</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Let nature wonder at the mystery of laughter.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Let nature hypothesize man’s indifference to it.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Let nature take a turn at saying what love is!</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Poems 1962-2000</i>, page 89:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA © 2000)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" /></span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br />
</div><h3 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt;"><a href="" name="_Toc299567181"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299567107"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566444"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566386"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299566272"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299482565"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299476282"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299475523"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299474015"></a><a href="" name="_Toc299309138"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299474015;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475523;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476282;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482565;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566272;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566386;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566444;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567107;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567181;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><a href="" name="_Toc313197633"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567181;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299567107;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566444;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566386;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299566272;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299482565;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299476282;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299475523;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299474015;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc299309138;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">The Power of Maples (Gerald Stern)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></h3><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">If you want to live in the country you have to understand the power of maples.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">You have to see them sink their teeth into the roots of old locusts.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">You have to see them force the sycamores to gasp for air.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">You have to see them move their thick hairs into the cellar.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when you cut your great green shad pole</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">you have to be ready for it to start sprouting in your hands;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">you have to stick it in the ground like a piece of willow;</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">you have to plant your table under its leaves and begin eating.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Leaving Another Kingdom: Selected Poems</i>, page 22:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Harper Perennial, New York, NY © 1990)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div></span> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span>Joel Thomas Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01038366206601829197noreply@blogger.com0