Dec. 18

  

A Journey  by Nikki Giovanni; Telescope by Louise Glück; The Work of Happiness  by May Sarton; The Moon Burgled the House by Elizabeth Bishop;  In a Grain of Sand by Jesús Papoleto Meléndez

It is hard to believe that the year is coming to a close... Poetry has guided us through 50 weeks of discussions, prompted by poems-- providing us with consolations, ruminations, words which dig deep into layers seen, felt, sensed by experiences.  Hearing each other respond in multiple ways to just one poem magnifies the power of words to help us sort out our desire to find pattern, meaning.  What a gift as we listen and ponder, note, and marvel at the crafting of words, at their music, their arrangement on the page,

as they meet the task of rendering something universal about being to the particulars of a slice of life!

The first poem, is a tribute to Nikki Giovanni, (1943-2024):

A Journey.   The title is not, The Journey, or Journey, but A Journey which could mean just one of many, but quickly rectified by the repeat, "It's a journey . . .", as if to imply a way to label how to go about living.  Rose Marie commented on Giovanni's style, broken with suspension points and large spaces, which  marked exactly how she spoke in an interview with Krista Tippett in 2016.  

One could make suppositions about her style reflecting something about "searching for words", or perhaps giving space to the poem to go to work without her interference,  perhaps she is not sure of herself, but wants to share her search for words, or perhaps, she imagines the reader, and wants to involve us, invite us to take time to go from one fragment to the next, supplying our own details. She does not impose any proposal, does not specify if this is a journey from life to death, or a general description of going through life, which accentuates the idea of a journey which by definition, is a process which may or may not reach any goal, or  have a purpose in the first place.

Neil was reminded of the John Fowles novel, The Magus  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magus_(novel) which in turn, sounds like one of the three Magi, and their reputed journey to follow the Star of Bethlehem.  

The poet indeed, may not assume the role of guide,  but a fellow passenger, and yet says she is Ra, the all-knowing Egyptian Sun God,  in a space "not to be invented but discovered".  This sounds otherworldly.  She reassures us, provides the adjective exhuberant to describe "autumn's quilt", tells us we are in charge of our own guide posts and shows her courage.  Does she make you curious  to embark on such a journey?  

The poem is enigmatic, intriguing, and one senses she is about to leap into the void-- and eager to do so.

I just heard the 4th annual session "Reading Rilke" held at the Poets Corner in Maine, with guests Krista Tippett, Padraig O'Túama and Mark Burrows. https://www.thepoetscorner.org/events/reading-rilke-today?ss_source=sscampaigns&ss_campaign_id=6759a96c4ffaad2b3280a8f7&ss_email_id=675eef262d3b4836ead2f005&ss_campaign_name=Join+us+for+First+Light+in+2025&ss_campaign_sent_date=2024-12-15T15%3A01%3A23Z  (fast-forward several minutes for a long introduction about the Poets Corner by Meg Weston.  You might enjoy hearing Padraig read some of Rilke's fragments which share the same quality of this poem "A Journey".  None of us really know what "being" is...  

Telescope:   Louise Glück: 1943—2023, deserves a long introduction.  We agreed that the crux of the poem is about relationship, since how we see things is constantly in flux.  A poet can make statements, for instance in the 2nd stanza, "you're in a different place/... where human life has no meaning" which sound like assumptions that may or may not be true.  Jim challenged her statement in the 3rd stanza, that stars should be coupled with the word, "stillness" and shared the Astronomy Picture of the Day: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ (The Crab Nebula shown on 12/18 might look still, but the universe is a violent place filled with exploding stars, swirling gasses and dust.) This brought up Arthur Clark's short story, "The Star" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star_(Clarke_short_story)... which in turn brought up the fact that what we see in the sky is actually 40 billion years ago... and how do we start to even comprehend light years??? Looking at the last stanza, there is no mention of interconnection we so highly prize and mention about life on earth but rather a chilling sense of how removed "each thing is from every other thing".  Claudia brought up how how the poem moved from visual to an auditory plane of the silence of the night sky.  Later, in discussion of "In a Grain of Sand" , we discussed at length how poetry can work "visual" arrangements, how to interpret them which in turn brought up comments about jazz, and how differently "improvisation" can sound depending on who's working the tune.  (Oscar Peterson vs. Count Basie for instance, who "leaves out notes in the right place.").

This blogger gives a far more detailed discussion of the poem! https://hungerforpoetry.blogspot.com/2013/03/telescope-by-louise-gluck.html

Then again, you could spend a few days reading many more such reviews!!!!  How do we balance what seems to be a cold, distant universe with our own inner world focussed on ourselves?

The Work of Happiness: this poem brought up many stories about May Sarton, her biography by Margo Peters https://www.amazon.com/May-Sarton-Biography-Margot-Peters/dp/0449907988  and the fact that two people in the group had met her, Kathleen visited her house.  What is happiness?  What is the work of happiness and how does it work?  Sarton weaves a beautiful metaphor where the bottom line seems to be that happiness is growth and a sense of peace each of us find in our own way.  The discussion touched on the comfort of familiar objects,  and ways we relate to things perhaps as treasured hierlooms, perhaps as possession to show off.  Back to discussion of relationship (as in the poem, Telescope): some were surprised that in the poem, there is no mention of a person.  This led to the idea of home and what happens when it is taken away, whether through violence of bombing, disappearance, or when ousted from it for whatever reason.  One illustration was the mention of the 1996  movie "Twister" (and 2024 sequel Twisters.)  

I couldn't write down all the comments fast enough, but a recurring comment was an agreement that Sarton does not TELL us what happiness or its work is but rather through her meditation about it, allows us to think of what it might be for us individually. 

Moon Burgled: Bishop's dates are (February 8, 1911 – October 6, 1979), so I am curious why her poem was in the January 23, 2006 New Yorker!  

The poem was read and promptly dismissed. 

In a grain of Sand:  The poet explains the visual style as "cascadance" -- more dance than cadence with the visual cascade of words as a flow of consciousness on a canvas.  Many referred to examples of performance, sign language, and how a playful style of repeated words, reversed, inversed, lends to level of acting that heightens the power of the words.  The Body is involved with the poem.  Judith brought up the visual power of negative space for an artist,  and Martha Graham's choreography.  She recommended seeing The Moor's Pavane -- Shakespeare's Othello set to choreography by José Limon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moor%27s_Pavane but with the caveat, not all performances are equal.