It’s National Poetry month and the American Academy of Poets has selected a poster that responds to Tracy K. Smith’s poem, An Old Story. If you wish a copy of Julia Wang’s poster, a 10th grader from San Jose, CA ,whose work was selected, you can order here: : https://www.poets.org/national-poetry-month/form/poster-request-form
She uses the last five lines of the poem.
And then our singing
Brought on a different manner of weather.
Then animals long believed gone crept down
From trees. We took new stock of one another.
We wept to be reminded of such color
ELEGY FOR A WALNUT TREE by W.S. Merwin
A Door by W.S. Merwin
An Old Story by Tracy K. Smith*
An Old Story by Tracy K. Smith*
Pieces on the Ground by Marianne Boruch
What Can I Tell Her I have Learned by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha
In a Time of Peace by. Ilya Kaminsky
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We closed with Hillaire Belloc [month Of] April - and
The spring is sprung, the grass is riz.
I wonder where the boidie is.
They say the boidie’s on the wing.
But that’s absoid. The wing is on the bird**
**
Commentary:
We will miss Merwin... his lines that refuse to be hammered in by punctuation, his unusual thoughts
that allow such titles as "On the anniversary of my death".
Merwin’s strength as a poet is the profundity he creates out of the simplest of words, as in “A Door,” in which “somebody would come and knock/on this air/long after I have gone/and there in front of me a life/would open.” His themes of birth, time, human separation from nature, and the delicate balance of the earth as a human home are rendered in mysterious yet exquisitely clear and exact imagery, as evidenced in the poem below about a walnut tree, trees being one of the great loves of his life.
Merwin’s strength as a poet is the profundity he creates out of the simplest of words, as in “A Door,” in which “somebody would come and knock/on this air/long after I have gone/and there in front of me a life/would open.” His themes of birth, time, human separation from nature, and the delicate balance of the earth as a human home are rendered in mysterious yet exquisitely clear and exact imagery, as evidenced in the poem below about a walnut tree, trees being one of the great loves of his life.
The Elegy for the Walnut tree is such a beautifully crafted tribute to life... and to Merwin, who accepted that this tree became, by his careful attention to how it lived the seasons, the changes, wars, centuries,
becomes the way he sees the world... An elegy can be a a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead. Given Merwin's respect for the environment, it is both. Many people shared other references to trees. Bernie brought up Overstory
A Door is another fabulous image for possibility... where every poem can be a portal... the poem felt to some like an old person saying, “a door will appear for you to walk through that will shape your destiny. Each decision we make is a door. Merwin works the “air” sounds…creates a sense of magic of doors in shadows, like fairy tales which summon the supernatural in a particular way.
An Old Story: + the Poster for National Poetry month from American Academy of Poets
Judges: Naomi Shihab Nye: “We are navigating a deep forest together but there is hope in the grieving, the persistent light, the many colors of thought and being, the shared human responsiveness. We may still be struck awake by inspiration. I felt tears of hope for each word and knows instantly, thanks to a young artist's visionary skill, this was my choice.” The co-judge, Debbie Millman said this. “The integration of message and meaning is wise beyond her years, and the overall sentiment embedded in the illustration is stunning. The response to this year’s student poster competition gives me great optimism for the next generation of poetry lovers, designers and artists."
Maura brought up the children's book As an Oak Tree Grows by G. Brian Karas much on the same lines.
An Old Story: + the Poster for National Poetry month from American Academy of Poets
uses the final lines of Tracy K. Smith’s poem . You can see the image of the vision of
10th Grader, Julia Wang from San Jose, CA here :https://www.poets.org/national-poetry-month/form/poster-request-form. She explains: "Since music (singing) seemed a key part, I wrote the first half of the excerpt onto five lines like those in sheet music, then the second half as well. The music is flowing and passing by, bringing the rain with it. However, the droplets could not only represent rain, but also teardrops. To contrast the dark background, I drew the teardrops with bright colors. The droplets act as a source of light, and their colors radiate and seep into the areas behind them. Combining the light and color of the droplets, the music lines seem almost transparents, like a shimmer of hope. The teardrops light up the bleak forest with light and color, creating a landscape that is quietly beautiful in its tragedy."
Judges: Naomi Shihab Nye: “We are navigating a deep forest together but there is hope in the grieving, the persistent light, the many colors of thought and being, the shared human responsiveness. We may still be struck awake by inspiration. I felt tears of hope for each word and knows instantly, thanks to a young artist's visionary skill, this was my choice.” The co-judge, Debbie Millman said this. “The integration of message and meaning is wise beyond her years, and the overall sentiment embedded in the illustration is stunning. The response to this year’s student poster competition gives me great optimism for the next generation of poetry lovers, designers and artists."
the poem: The use of enjambments is striking: "We were made to be believe it would be/ terrible..
Livid, the land, and ravaged, like a rageful /Dream.
She sums up in a short poem, the volumes of history... and post apocalyptic visions… brings up terrible fears… a long age… passed. (little ice age in 14thc. black plague… ). glibly optimistic…
We wondered, "How would Merwin write this?"
Dalai Lama: Call to revolution for the millennials… avoid pathological individualism…
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/25/affect-theory-and-the-new-age-of-anxiety
dystopian literature has gone on forever…
Pieces on the Ground by Marianne Boruch : delightful... but restless.. Wonderful craft, like antinomia-- (crossing:
pause and rush, rush and pause) a hint of Cummings. with "know thing..." and "nothing"... "The remember isn't a road"... the mother "rinsing knife and spoon and the middle of her life."
We discussed the urge to find "meaning" to "peg what a poem is about". Perhaps this one addresses ebb and flow of life… the random thoughts—but there are no overriding concepts…
A hill full, a hole full, you cannot catch a bowlful. FOG… rinsing the middle of the life.
Eliot. measuring your life by coffeespoons…
Am I right if I have the idea… + zen master. throw away the idea.
what is real… philosophy…
What Can I Tell Her I have Learned by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha
a complex poem, as if overhearing a mother and daughter discussing love songs of the Lebanese singer Fairuz. The arabic under the title is something along the lines of “your love is sleeping, I’m afraid, forget me Fairuz” (Lebanese singerhttps://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128431817 All the possible things she can tell her are questions... love, wind, fog, raid,
and then... conclusion in the final stanza:
"That in the eye of an unravelling we’re still singing,
as those before us did, that it buries or sustains us,
we cannot know. "
as those before us did, that it buries or sustains us,
we cannot know. "
In a Time of Peace by. Ilya Kaminsky.
This poem from Deaf Republic follows the events of a small town named Vasenka. Here, the townspeople have chosen to act as though they are deaf as a form of resistance. Kaminsky’s new book begs the questions: in a time of perpetual war, how do we say anything at all? Even worse, why do we stay silent about the commonplace atrocities happening everyday?
The contradictions are so apparent, the choice of dental appointments as part of the everyday "numbing" not a bad choice !
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