Two versions of "After a Death" (Bly) and "After Someone's Death,” as translated by Robin Fulton. Tranströmer imagines the aftermath of something momentous, the moment after.
Rick gives Bly the edge, if only for his conciseness and more conversational word choice which may have something to do with American English vs. Scottish English. Either version, a very unsettling and humbling poem.
The images of Winter, the sense of inner landscape, the shock which leaves us unable to see beyond the snow globe shaken all around us moves along the skis into a Swedish forest, where loss is further evoked by old leaves, compared to pages of phone directories -- without saying anything about additions and subtractions, just that names eaten up/swallowed by the cold. (Fallon adds "subscribers' names)
Is there a difference between "feel" and "hear" a heart?; having a shadow"feel" vs. seem, more real than a body.
The leap to the samurai -- the hero, where the line breaks on "insignificant" applying both to the man, and his armour of black dragon-scales.
For Rilke, imagining Orpheus, how do we understand?
What is the difference between Lament and Regret -- the disconnect of unsayable thoughts flying around us like moths.
We ended with Revenge by Taha Muhammad Ali -- where the thought of anyone's humanity will keep us from killing -- but as soon as that disappears, we deal the worst retaliation: indifference.
For knowing we all will die, what keeps us from getting close to the truth?
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