November 11

 Armistice Day... In the United States, Veterans Day honours American veterans, both living and dead. The official national remembranceof those killed in action is Memorial Day, which predates World War I. Some, including American novelist Kurt Vonnegut and American Veteran For Peace Rory Fanning, have urged Americans to resume observation of 11 November as Armistice Day, a day to reflect on how we can achieve peace as it was originally observed.

The following poems by Marvin Bell were chosen for discussion because they were read in a tribute to the Poet Marvin Bell on November 1, 2020.  The name of the poet reading each poem is listed.

There are two ways to go with poetry we learned in our workshops with Marvin. “My God!  It’s poetry.  Hey… it’s only poetry.”

A Man May Change -- read by Tree Swenson

Around Us -- read by Eric Pankey

The Alphabet  (not read, but a fine poem!)

Poem After Carlos Drummond de Andrade-- read by Michael Wieggers (Copper Canyon Press)

The Mystery of Emily Dickinson-- read by David Hamilton

The Dead Man and Government-- read by John Irving

"Why Do You Stay Up So Late? read by Tyler Erlendson

Things We Dreamt We Died For -- read by Tess Gallagher

The Last Thing I Say -- read by Naomi Shihab Nye

**

Nutshell:

A Man May Change: The subjunctive tone of the conditional  "may" reflects the "it sometimes happens" -- which is a subtle reference to the fact that how we perceive and live life is not a clear-cut black and white affair.   Comments included appreciation of the mysterious yet purposeful  meditation.  The use of "regular weather in ordinary days " is a wry underside to the fact that a life can go unobserved in the poignant ending that one can slip away before anyone "can find out" (that a man has changed...) And what kind of change?  The more time one spends with this poem, the more complex it becomes.  Who are we in the mirror, in the office? how slippery are we in terms defining ourselves as our life goes on.  

Around us: In just two sentences (and 17 lines), Bell creates a comforting, quiet tone in the description of what is helpful for the "rumbles that fill the mind"-- some might refer to as Monkey Mind.   The surprise at the end of the poem of a little sound of thanks -- with the humorous choice of zipper or snap-- to " close around the moment and the thought of whatever good we did" is so welcome.  Unlike some sermonizing statement, it is a humble meditation or a prayer.

Both poems give a sense that how our lives go may not have much impact... but poems make a difference and by extension, for those of us who worry... to help us confront the fears.  (an attempt to summarize David's observation.)

The Alphabet:  People! 5 times -- Three things people are saying... a bit E.E. Cummings-esque- https://poets.org/poem/9**

What is the authentic voice-- so simple... and what better than to feel encouraged... Specific (proper) names, could be a pun, just like the last line == 26, which might be the ideas the line before, using the 26  letters in the alphabet-- the endless possibilities.  Delightful!

Poem after Carlos Drummond de Andrade:  hearing Marvin read it is almost as good as the poem itself, often called "The Life Poem".  Comments included expressing appreciation of the juicy feel of being consumed by life... reference to the idea you cannot know joy without suffering... but at the end of the poem, one feels positive...  For reference, Khalil Gibran's passage https://poets.org/poem/joy-and-sorrow

Dead Man and Government:  I explained a bit about the Dead Man poems... The  name comes from the Zen admonition to live as if you were already dead. In other words, be present but have a long view too.   Each poem has two parts... organized by sentences-- no rule as to length.  This article gives the whole story and much more.  https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/a-lifetime-in-poetry-marvin-bell-on-iowa-and-the-dead-man-poems/

A timely reflection on absurdity... on oppression...  and perhaps part 2 is about futility... until the 3rd line from the end:  There is hope, there is still hope, there is always hope.

We followed with The Dead Man's Recent Dreams... it reminded Emily of the artwork of Robert Marx.

Another very interesting person!   https://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/rochester/the-late-robert-marx-and-the-faces-in-the-mirror/Content?oid=12311658

The poet, person of imagination, "cannot stop seeing what is not there" -- the not yet... often called the fool, the "joker" ... and yet speaks the truth.  

We ended with "Why do you stay up so late?"

My favorite line:  The person I was, does not know me... again... as among the living we are constantly changing... and have the "last unanswered question."  Jan offered the idea that that question is "why are we here?".... The sounds of w's, the repetitions that never say the same thing... Unlike the poem, "The last thing I say" which is one sentence, this poem is peppered with short sentences.

A wonderful sharing... all these poems feel like companions with which to converse -- and you know the conversation will never be boring. 

** the idea of "mostpeople" developed in the introduction by  E.E. Cummings of his 1938 collected poems.

https://www.questia.com/library/97902356/collected-poems

The link is only an excerpt -- the rest of the passage...

They don't mean living. They mean the latest and closest plural approximation to singular prenatal passivity which science,in its finite but unbounded wisdom, has succeeded in selling their wives.  If science could fail, a mountain’s a mammal.  Mostpeople’s wives can spot a genuine delusion of embryonic omnipotence immediately and will accept no substitutes— luckily for us, a mountain is a mammal.  The plusorminus movie to end moving, the strictly scientific parlour-game of real unreality, the tyranny conceived in misconception and dedicated to the proposition that every man is a woman and any woman a king, hasn’t a wheel to stand on.  What their most synthetic not to mention transparent majesty, mrsand mr collective foetus, would improbably call a ghost is walking.  He isn’t an undream of anaesthetized impersons, or a cosmic comfortstation, or a transcendentally sterilized lookiesoundiefeelietastiesmellie.  He is little more than everything, he is democracy; he is alive: he is ourselves.”