Poems for May 31

Mid-Century Modern  by Rae Armantrout

Attention  by Nick Laird

the great escape by Charles Bukowski

Elegy for a Ringmaster at Civilization’s End by Dante Di Stefano

One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII  by Pablo Neruda (transl. Mark Eisner)

Nature Redux by M.J. Iuppa

Ode to the Joyful Ones by Thomas Lux

O Pen has about 45 active participants, fortunately, only about 20 or so showing each week.  Whatever the combination,  we all enjoy the kind of spirit of repartee found in lively families.  Case in point, I opened the session, complimenting Judith on her reading of her poem, Parking in the Pittsford Parking Lot in the Rain at the end of last week's session, (see blog post May 26) and one comment led to another which prompted Bernie to toss his cap with the caption Make Poetry Great Again (with a raven embroidered on it) her way.  To which Judith promptly quoted  James Russell Lowell (who knew that Barnaby Rudge was a key inspiration for Poe's poem, The Raven) from his work, "A Fable for Critics":  Here comes Poe with his Raven, like Barnaby Rudge/ Three fifths of him genius, two fifths sheer fudge. To which Paul added an anecdote about  F. Scott Fitzgerald astounded at impertinence of another writer criticizing his work... "unable to distinguish the difference of work by a noble horse and contemptible ass!  To which the writer retorted, How impertinent you sir, to call me a horse!  

I might not have all the details down, but Graeme kindly puts it this way:  "O pen is a self-renewing, poem-centered collective intimacy that generates smiles, catalyzes friendships, defeats loneliness". What a gift EACH ONE provides.  

Emily brought in a towel to wrap around the microphone so we could roll it safely across the table (it does help for hearing).  Some objected, and said passing it acceptable. Paul decided it by picking up the mic and tossing the towel... to which Judith responded, Don't throw a foul with a towel.  All in good humor, and Emily was gracious enough to take it all in stride.

NUTSHELL:

I played the recording of the first two poets reading reading their work (from the New Yorker).  In this case,  it truly enhanced the poems.  

1. Mid-century:  I asked if anyone had heard the term "Collapse acceptance"-- a mindfulness approach to dealing with climate change, as the poem seemed to have overtones of that.  

On the other hand, some associated the "slightly smoky air" with a campfire... others with a sense of tenuousness, confirmed by the metaphor implied by "what supports us is flimsy".  Perhaps also by  twisty legs of the pretzel chair.. the "almost" familiar of the marshmallow sofa (both items of furniture applauded and defended by Barbara as supplying comfort at affordable prices for the working poor).  Graeme identified parallel, simultaneous actions, but in a different scale of time in each stanza.  Others felt the poem was about how we get used to things.  A hint of Billy Collins' cryptic in the 3rd stanza  ("an off rhyme goes a long way if you aren't going anywhere") and Jan noted the R's of the end word in each stanza (air, popular, anywhere, familiar... and we joked about adding "r" to idea!) She also shared the cover of Collins' book Musical Tables with a sheep comfortably settled in a sofa which adds context to the marshmallow of sofa.

This ramble of collected comments is a healthy sign of a poem, enjoyable on many levels, and carrying on the proud tradition of being impossible to summarize.

2. Attention:  The size of the poem, the use of repetition, the indentations make the poem feel like a statue being sculpture.  So much to admire... the opening metaphor of "attention as a single white marble"... how that transforms to a scene in Italy and white Carrara marble... and the repeated dropping of the initial marble until it wedges beneath the tyre of a Vespa.  Martino becomes fleshed out, and then, as we get to know him, understand the cancer eating him, we hear his shortened name.  The question of Moses and the horns came up -- a mistranslation from the Greek in a description of "beams of light" with the unfair association of demonic attributes to Jews.  Judith added the angle of the Renaissance understanding of power, comparing Michelangelo's horns to the treatment by Titian in his portrait of a doge.  Paul demonstrated the Italian hand gesture of horns.  

Perhaps we needed such asides to deal with the powerful emotional effect not just of the statue, but shift from attention to the attending, the terrible, helpless waiting... ad tendere, literally, stretching towards the end.  The final sentence confirms the empty stillness, not yet dead, of a man waiting for the final moment.  "To love a statue so much, Michelangelo is reputed to have hurled his hammer at it, cried that it would not speak."  Powerful, powerful poem that melds a tenderness towards a human, with the statue. As Graeme said,  "When in love, every detail becomes etched in your brain. 

3.  The great escape:  a little comic humor was necessary.  Bukowski, known as the "Laureate of American Low Life" paints what might seem to be a comic scenario that could happen in a prison, an assembly line, (recalling Chaplin and "Modern Times", or the Chaplinesque humor in the Great Dictator). There's a profundity behind the anecdotal description of crabs trying to exit the basket -- and indeed, perhaps it is not so much that other crabs are pulling the ones climbing to the top, but they all are trying to escape... 

4. Elegy:  Mary brought up that she knew Jerry Springer when he was mayor of Cincinnati, and what a good man he was... others brought up his positive aspects as serious politician, as well prior to hosting "a circus-like freak show" on TV.  His sign off line as newscaster "take care of yourself and each other" which is also in the poem...followed by "take care of the dark".  

The poem uses long dashes which cause us to pause.  It's not just a poem about Springer, but a poem about where we are at in this time period.  Is our legacy the reason or excuse for negative behavior of the beasts, ghosts, monsters /clambering in our own chests? His background history, having fled Germany, during the holocaust, arriving in London, his training as lawyer, working for Robert Kennedy, and initial good work would seem to make his evolution impossible.   Judith brought up the book by Jacques Barzun:(1957)  The House of Intellect: How Intellect, the Prime Force in Western Civilization, is Being Destroyed by Our Culture in the Name of Art, Science and Philanthropy https://www.amazon.com/House-Intellect-Jacques-Barzun/dp/0313200718

 5. One Hundred Love Sonnets #17. It is helpful to see the Spanish, especially to understand the word "tight" in the 2nd stanza translation "Oscuro" --as "hidden" in the translation appears as "living dimly" .

 Another idea might be  the plant still tightly furled in bud or better yet... the light of the flowers lives tightly bound in his heart, preparing an aroma that will arise from his heart.

https://www.babelmatrix.org/works/es/Neruda,_Pablo-1904/Soneto_XVII_%28No_te_amo_como_si_fueras_rosa_de_sal,_topacio%29/en/32901-Sonnet_XVII_%28I_do_not_love_you_as_if_you_were_salt-rose,_or_topaz%29

e amo como la planta que no florece y lleva 
dentro de sí, escondida, la luz de aquellas flores, 
y gracias a tu amor vive oscuro en mi cuerpo 
el apretado aroma que ascendió de la tierra.

As Polly put it, this is not the "usual gush" of a love poem.  We all appreciated the "earthiness".

6.  Nature Redux (redux= brought back; revived): For gardeners -- as Mary put it, this is a "beautiful poem for those of us with the itch to get flowers out in Spring"!  We also examined the subtleties of relationship, the curious "love had lost its shape" -- whether a husband, loss of a father to dementia, death?  The goodbye in the first line is mysterious.  The fierceness in the description of the bulb is almost off putting, and one senses anger  Many saw regret... the misplaced box, the lost shape, and then, finding return... Indeed, the poem leaves us with a sense of hope.

7.  Ode:  Lux means light... and here, the poems lays out the power and example of those who are filled with it. The courage to do right, not be afraid of the storm...  Whether or not those who walk in the light need praise or protection, we indeed need their light ! Paul brought up an understanding from the viewpoint of  a commemorative poem for Veterans. This  enhanced a fuller understanding, and corroborated the appearance of the poem on Writer's Almanac on Memorial Day.