we did not have time to discuss the 3 other poems related to Covid 19, however, I opened with Judith's contribution she sent to everyone called Rebbitzen bat Ezra Or: Some Thoughts On Our Present Condition.
Basho
Pileated Woodpecker Barbara Loots
The End of Science Fiction — Lisel Mueller
Proximity by Karen Head
Let Me Begin Again Philip Levine
Now that we are “zooming” discussions, I am delighted that 18 participants showed up,
but I also am mindful that many more might wish to participate. Herewith a brief summary
of the April 1 poems.
Basho: Spring does its thing! This lovely haiku reminds us to pause and notice. One email poem I received form Belgian friends used the anaphor, It was March 2020 with a list of all
we are going through with social distancing… and the rejoinder but Spring didn’t know…
It is heartening that we are still able to walk, respecting distance. Bernie shared the variety of what he observes in people’s faces — some smiling, some grim, some with masks… and responses.
Loot: We had discussed another poem by this “Hallmark lady”. This one we enjoyed, as the AA-BB rhyme in the 3 quatrains did not interfere with her creation of a place of quiet, which,
she points out, is not silent at all. Although the subject is seemingly a Woodpecker, it winds into a meditation on sound. Twice-repeated, silence does not exist! The syntax in the last stanza amid the onomatopoetic “whir of wind and wings” is troublesome, perhaps on purpose. What is the subject of the verb “fill” on the third line? Is it morning that fills with the hum and whir and woodpeckers? Is it the speaker, who sits, attempts, and disbelieves, who is being filled up with the sound and presence of the moment? Could it possibly be the idea of the mornings when the speaker sits, but the attempts only happen at this time of day? Maybe it is the speaker and the disbelieved silence that fill …. However it is, the reader fills with this sound. The idea seems to be that the Earth is made of sound, of dance veiled in vibration. I like the thought that sound, this constancy we might think transitory, is made by all that doesn’t stay. Certainly a wonderful invitation to contemplate
complexity! Bernie reminded us of Da Vinci’s fascination with woodpeckers. You may enjoy this article. https://www.birdwatchingdaily.com/news/science/woodpeckers-hammer-without-headaches/
Mueller
To start with the title, how do we understand each word in it: “The End”, “Science” and “Fiction” ? It brings up Ursula Leguin, ideas of Science Fiction, or science as fiction, or what we think is fiction becoming scientific fact. David brought up Gulliver’s Travels as a good example of science fiction, as the goal of the genre is “to set human motives in unfamiliar settings to help us look afresh.” Invention, coupled with rather grim verbs, like invade, stop, and the idea that we cannot stop what we have started, is unsettling indeed. Invention as imagination at work gives hope. I love how Mueller teases us with references to Greek myths, stories from the Bible. Is it only the old narratives that will give us the clarity we need to live wisely?
The two lines that struck many of us were the two last sentences of the second stanza.
How do we speak? Communicate? How do we hear, both physically and also emotionally, understanding each other?
In this coronavirus pandemic, we are cast in an unfamiliar setting, to ponder our motives, our
way of living. How were we living a month ago? How will we be after this crisis is over?
Head: This short poem of two sentences is quite pithy, with a surprising twist in the enjambment of “opening the window”… Whether literally or metaphorically, how does that change the world? We discussed the divide of a pane of glass between inner and outer world,
how the speaker of the poem can be close to the possum because of the barrier, but also,
protected from it.
Szybist: A thank you to Kathy who brought up Szybist’s book Incarnedine which explores the annunciation with novel forms and ideas. This triptych of picture puzzle, as a broken mosaic of
colors and shapes to be put together, two girls conversing, where the image on the puzzle, intersects with their casual talk about bikinis, and questioning the mystery of such a story
as the announcement to Mary that she will birth the son of God… I love their question,“Who thought this stuff/up?” It is easy to feel like a fly on the wall observing — and joining the girls,
piecing together a bigger mystery than a simple puzzle, exploring different aspects. We all found it a fun poem. For more about Szybist this is a fine article. https://kenyonreview.org/kr-online-issue/2014-winter/selections/incarnadine-by-mary-szybist-738439/
I love how the poem ends without the reader knowing to whom the girls would say “a zillion yeses to”— and what the “that” is to which they are saying yes!
So much more to say about the weaving in of details — colors in the puzzle like the veins in the grandmother’s hand; the idea of “speaking Angel”… an x-ray to float on? What would it show?
Levine: Levine reads his poems to a background of jazz. For “Let Me Begin Again” see the first poem.
Poetry of Jazz, vol 2
Let Me Begin Again the poem which we discussed today, text
The Simple Truth title poem of his Pulitzer Prize winning book text
Poetry of Jazz Vol 1
We discussed the intensely beautiful language, and how Levine explained that he wrote the poem thinking about how he wished he had known Whitman’s passages from Leaves of Grass
earlier. Consult here to compare Whitman to Levine.
A poem perhaps about adult regret… wondering how he might have better contributed earlier… and if later was enough…
In response to the sense of darkness, Jan quoted Thoreau, The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”— Thoreau.
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