The Weighing by Jane Hirshfield; Fleas interest me so much by Pablo Neruda; Walking In An Old Forest With Our Young Son On My Back, I See The Fates Of My Friends In Every Tree by Kim Stafford; Before the Rains Had Come by Kim Stafford; From “The Windy City” by Carl Sandburg; Thunderstorm in Dorset, Vermont by John Updike; Virginia, Autumn by Molly McCully Brown; Calculations by Brenda Cárdenas
The Hirschfield poem came from a long line-up of suggestions from Maria Popova's blog: https://www.themarginalian.org/2024/10/22/marginalian-18/
The American Academy posted several poems from the archives under this rubric: "A place of quiet, and journey that is a kind of returning to love. Isn't it wonderful that there are SO many poems to choose from!
The White-headed Woodpecker by Sean Hill
The Flight of the Crows by Emily Pauline Johnson
Drowning Creek by Ada Limon : (Ending lines: There is a solitude in this world/ I cannot pierce. I would die for it.
I was tempted to choose Ada Limon's poem because of our discussion of White Towels, Solitude and Loneliness... but preferred Polly's share of Neruda's Fleas!.
Nutshell of discussion.
The Weighing: The title already is "weighted" with a freight of possibilities: to weigh evidence or a decision in one's mind, or the actual physical use of weights and measures, whether noun or verb, even the sound of weighing with its silent letters seems to breath a sense of ambiguity which we discussed. The opening line immediately triggered the line from French Philosopher/Mathematician, Blaise Pascal (1623-62) which addresses the intuitive, emotional side of understanding that needs to be balanced with reason: "The heart has reasons which reason cannot know". Curious that "Pascal" is also a unit of measure and other meanings in our 21st century world. We discussed the paradoxical 2nd stanza with the mention the forgiveness of the eland which brought up the question of when one meets death willingly, realizing it is time to let go. The last stanza evoked the stories of courageous people meeting difficult circumstances, but could apply to fighting for civil rights and in spite of prison, or any cause against impossible odds, still acting on an intuitive passion connected to something larger than sacrifice or one's fate. Knowing that Hirshfield is "science-savvy" as well as Buddhist, made us suspect the poem aims to address what lies beyond the visible as neither good nor bad, but rather the nature of the larger cosmic mix. She blends beautifully this sense of the larger scale with the personal. The penultimate stanza is a powerful reminder that revives hope without resorting to wishful thinking. The poem sets it up in measured truth.
Fleas interest me: A wonderful demonstration of how to address something irritating with craft and humor, calling on actual observation.
We all enjoyed the line "someone should introduce them to me", which allows a step away from oneself and which also made us think perhaps the fleas are a metaphor for human beings with the ironic implication that indeed, we might not know ourselves as well as we think!
Two Kim Stafford poems: The first with the "show-off title" that is longer than its lines provoked criticism, a common response to ambiguity and wanting a message delivered with more clarity. However, it also provoked a good discussion about what it's like to be the son of a famous poet, perhaps passing on to his son what he has learned. The second poem, Before the Rains has an intriguing title which could imply perhaps something as Biblical as Noah's flood, or metaphorical deluge, especially since it uses the past tense. We had fun making fun of the "Design Committee" and how sea water with its salt is probably not going to be terribly helpful to the desert. Who is the doorman? Is the mystery of mist perhaps understanding that when sea water evaporates, the salt is left behind? Why a dream? Enjoyable alliterations in the second stanza. The short i's and sibilance in whisper, mist, contrast nicely with the rolling l's (hall/pull/child/all) and the long I in child,
with an answer the long-I'd desIgn committee with their pIpes would disregard.
Does the doorman burst his daughter's bubble? It's a lovely parable that hints at the wisdom that comes out of the mouths of babes.
Windy City : we all were seduced by the sounds, the rhythms, colors and the rich layering of history, of climate, in this portrait of Chicago, but also the feel of the wind, in each season how it can pull at our coats and whip our hair. For sure, we'll need to share more Sandburg. (We don't need the Louis Rubin Jr.s of the world to tell us what a wonderful artist he is, but I couldn't resist including that note that the Academy attached to their excerpt of this poem!)
It inspired Neil to share two stories and Little Orphant Annie!
https://poets.org/poem/little-orphant-annie
Thunderstorm: I love that the first word of the poem is "It"... without requiring any idea of what "it" is... circumstances, the weather, general conditions. It launches us into the personality of a thunderstorm, its power and effects. We thought the "concussions" of the 2nd stanza could be "percussions". The relief of the exit followed by the personnification of rain and leaves softly unfurling and leaves limply steeping themselves in green is masterful. I return to the Hirschfield thinking... no matter the storm, the potential damage, "still the scales balance."
Virginia: This multifaceted poem has a reference to the season of Fall and all that falls: the effect of the poet's own cerebral palsy, birds, men fallen in the civil war . It finishes with turning to the sun and the rather enigmatic line, "What we love is rarely blameless." Her play on the sun "catching" in the changing trees emphasizes a sense of hope brought by the light.
Calculations: This bilingual poem allows the clever juxtaposition of the role of a teacher and a parent on a child who comes from a different linguistic and cultural community. The Spanish calls on the Mayan culture and their intricate knowledge of mathematical calculations and use of zero. The teacher inadvertently suggests reinforcing the fact that "story time" also is a way to hang on to truth even if the stories keep changing. Jim brought up that Quetzal birds would rather die than be captured. Although this is not brought up in the poem, it is interesting. Teacher: she's stuck at "Ground Zero" .. Is it the mother's response that zero is a velvet swoop into dream? or is this the poet who is overhearing this parent-teacher conference?
Polly brought up Virginia Elson's comment that all zeros should be treated as numbers. I found these articles interesting too. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-the-origin-of-zer/