Poems discussed July 29

We started the session with the two poems Mary shared by two young people -- one a 5th grader, slated for failure,
but who found a refrain and some hope, describing his world of fighting and guns, and in spite of feeling his soft bones turning to stone, his innocence and hope come through. For the anonymous author who wrote "Powerless" whose middle name is Doubt and whose family shares the last name Fear, with family members called addiction, revenge, fury, it is both an address to our personal lives riddled by all that contributes to a feeling of helplessness, as well as "the broken house" of our society in which we live, or Western Civilization. (to quote Martin.)

We listened to the two clips sent with the poems for July 22 which provoked a very interesting discussion about who the AUDIENCE is, how a poem can be successful, and why angry rants are difficult. It would be interesting indeed to know if someone has written a thesis about anger -- how individuals, societies, different civilizations, deal with it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLHdSovhzcA
Steve Connell : I am American http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWNdIA4FG6Q
‪http://www.obamatakesamericaback.com‬‬

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzY2-GRDiPM
Saul Williams “Coded Language Whereas...

Lots of good rhetorical power, juxtaposition, repetition, interesting leaps from the Declaration of Independence to what a God would do to an uncivilized display of abuse. The monotone of the anaphoric "whereas" hammers tediously, pinning our ears.

What a difference to read two "classic poems" -- the delight of the music of Auden's "Look Stranger now"
and A.E. Stallings, Prelude. The latter also was disconcerting -- using rhyme and form, rational thinking but with an awkward discomfort which starts with refuting explanations :
No, no. It is something else. It is something raw
That suddenly falls
Upon me at the start, like loss of awe—
The vertigo of possibility—
The pictures I don't see,
The open strings, the perfect intervals.


Great discussion about intuitive thinking, perfect moments -- what completely engrosses us -- and how we try to pin it down in paint, with words, in music.

discussion of Poems July 22

David kindly moderated the discussion on July 22 -- the first and last poems in Robert Frost's first book --
so I am sorry to have missed the discussion, as they enclose the issues of Frost's first book of poems--one he was already moving beyond at the time he published it.

From "The Art of Robert Frost" by Tim Kendall.

Selection from A Boy’s Will, Robert Frost (published in 1913 – title inspired by the Longfellow poem, "My Lost Youth".) The list of poems on the contents page was accompanied by explanatory glosses –
Into My Own – Robert Frost (First poem in A Boy’s Will) has this gloss in the introduction:
"The youth is persuaded that he will be rather more than less himself for having foresworn the world."(Written at age 35, he would long have given up hope of being described as a “youth” p. 17 Kendall).
The last poem, “Reluctance” was not glossed.


Kendall* selects these poems from "A Boy's Will"

Ghost House (He is happy in society of his choosing)
Rose Pogonias (He is no dissenter from the ritualism of nature)
Mowing (He takes up life simply with the small tasks.)(Frost considers this the most impressive poem in this first book. Also the most enigmatic. His first “Talk Song”
The Trial by Existence (He resolves) (to know definitely what he thinks about the soul.)

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Kendall: "Into my Own" -- establishes some rules -- and one of the great subjects Frost addresses: fear.
In the sonnet are five "sturdy" negations "(not to mention the hedging use of the conditional) as if to make emphatically clear that no action will be required. Even the "trees/breeze" rhyme functions to reverse usual expectations: the breeze this time, 'scarcely' ruffles the trees. ... it would be a journey of confirmation, not discovery."

Reluctance, as final poem, remained one of Frost's favorites. Although ending the book, the poem ends on a question, without a firm sense of resolution. "Reluctance is a strange augury of Frost's later achievement, because the continuing attractions of a peripatetic solitude run counter to the inspiration which his poetry will learn to find at home and among people."

Poems for July 22

“A great poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom” – Robert Frost
This week, a medley to think about what delight and wisdom mean...

This week, I was inspired by a poem Mary brought in, written by a 13 year old -- which led me to listen to U tubes of performance poetry by young, impassioned people and to discover some poems by teens in a detention center. How are these poems different from a "youth in the 16th century" or Longfellow's poem about "lost youth" or the "Boy's will" Frost cites from him?

I Am – Jimmie Mays (age 13)
A Poem Written By Sir Henry Wotton In His Youth -- 1568 –1639
My Name is Powerless – Teenage Girl from Denney Juvenile Justice Center, WA
My Lost Youth – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – 1807-1882
Selection from A Boy’s Will, Robert Frost -- 1874-1963

Poems for July 15

Things -- by Lisel Mueller
Another Thing by David Mason
Lenten Song by Phillis Levin
Age Appropriate by Philip Schultz
The End and the Beginning -- Wislawa Szymborska

Three of the poems (Mason, Levin, Schultz) come from the July/Aug. issue of Poetry.
We'll follow up on the idea of "things" and how we organize ourselves, our relationships.

Poems for July 8

Astrophil and Stella #48 by Philip Sidney (30 November 1554 – 17 October 1586)
Stars at Tallapoosa -- by Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955)
Choose Something Like a Star by Robert Frost March 26, 1874- January 29, 1963)
Middle-Aged Woman at the Pastry Counter by Robert Peake
“A World Without Objects Is a Sensible Emptiness'' by Richard Wilbur b. 3/1/1921


How is it that each week, a poem pops up, or a theme suggesting itself? I am reading right now "the Dancing Wu Li Masters" by Gary Zukav and think of the 80 meanings of "Wu" and the five "Wu li" which thread meanings into a tapestry of understanding of physics.
to wit: (p. 7 of the paperback version)
patterns of energy
my way
nonsense
I clutch my ideas
Enlightenment

Perhaps a similar thing happens with poetry in Chinese -- certainly pattern was one of the criteria this week -- but so was the idea of "star" and energy... and a few suggestions that popped up on internet as other people who post poems choose...
Our discussion will start with Elizabethan times, but end with a 20th century poem whose title refers to a 17th century mystic (Traherne). We will continue our discussion of pros and cons of form -- and how successful it is at enhancing, engaging given our minds tempered by the 21st century. How much "time" translation must we do? What universals unfold?

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