Optical Illusion (for America in the 2020’s) by Shirley Balance Blackwell
Words Out of the Sea: A Pantoum by Goyo
In Quarantine by Kim Stafford
Distracted from COVID-19, Attention shifts to MIA Maiden from Land O'Lakes Butter Box by Tiffany Midge
The Contrariness of the Mad Farmer by Wendell Berry
Prologue to Group 1 meeting at 11:15.
Paul kindly shared the poem below from a slim volume called Nitpicking of Cranes by Paddy Bushe.
All of us in some ways are "wannabe poets" -- and often are tempted to be liberal in suggestions for revisions in the poems we read of others. Some of Bushe's poems appear in Irish as well as English, begun and developed after the poet's visit to China. They bring a rich new imagery and textuality to Irish poetry and continue to develop Paddy Bushe's fine sense of form and his awareness of humanity's desires and struggles.
Advice for a Poet
In Yuantong Temple, the signs
In translation speak in auspicious tones.
Near a cloistered pool, smiled upon
by statues gilded with serenity,
I am urged to avoid conflagration,
and to offer incense with civility.
Above all, a sign beseeches me,
Please make no confused noise while chanting.
from Nitpicking of Cranes by Paddy Bushe
https://www.amazon.com/Nitpicking-Cranes-Paddy-Bushe/dp/1904556310
Nutshell Summary:
Optical Illusion: I would love to find out more about Shirley Balance Blackwell, for instance, that lovely middle name...
Her bio in the back of Fixed and Free 2021 Anthology, edited by Billy Brown, says she is a formalist at heart, has served as president (2011-13) of the NM State Poetry Society and board member (2014-20) of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies. Several references to prizes, publications.
Her poem is a beautifully arranged sonnet of 3 quatrains and a couplet which addresses the famous optical illusion of a young/old woman:
https://images.app.goo.gl/vuLC6DiSCo5WgaiJ9 and
https://images.app.goo.gl/afUrzpsyL39iCNmUA. Can we see the two images at once?
The poem addresses the mystery of human subjectivity, how each brain interprets what is seen and heard differently. Bernie offered the aphorism: Don't believe everything you think.
Beyond the message of "bias, the trick that fools the eye", is the clever metaphor of cutting up the image like a jigsaw puzzle... scramble the scraps and start anew... And what if indeed we did that? Might our heart grow a few sizes larger? There is kindness in addressing the readers as "Beloveds" pleading with us to look at what tears us apart... we're all broken, and indeed... it's hard to put the pieces back. Bernie was reminded of Leonard Cohen, There is a crack, a crack in everything/ That's how the light gets in.
Jim pointed out the scientific research about "eyewitnesses" and how what a witness has seen is tempered by the template established in your brain. There is also the mystery of what we don't see... have missed seeing, only temporarily see...
The first session had quite a discussion about how photons travel, quantum physics... How can light be both wave and particle... and how to understand somewhat that travels as "possibility", as "indeterminacy".
Stephen Weinberg is reputed to have said he didn't understand quantum mechanics -- and if anyone told him they did, he would say they were lying. And yet, he is the master, teaching us about it. https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/04/06/steven-weinberg-puzzle-quantum-mechanics/
There are many who cannot deal with "grey" areas. Ken thought the sonnet would make an ideal song.
Rosemary brought up this reference: https://fs.blog/the-work-required-to-have-an-opinion/ it offers a very different approach. Do not anticipate opposition, how to argue with it, but rather first delve as deeply as possible to study and understand the opposing point of view.
There were several examples: talking with a neighbor who is on opposite views on politics, climate change... and agreeing that remaining friends was more important than "solving differences".
David brought up the story of Robert Frost reading Finnegan's Wake, finding it an exercise in obscurity.
He memorized it and eventually, admitted "it was starting to make sense." There is also the story of Picasso painting a portrait of Gertrude Stein and her comment, "But that doesn't look like me!"
Picasso's retort: But it will.
Barb mentioned how she and her nephew root for opposite teams... but were able to overcome that bias and enjoy watching together.
Words Out of the Sea: this gorgeous pantoum, filled with alliterative sounds, prepares an important message with a blending of the sea "whispering me" (the poet being shaped into the person he is), and the sea as old crone, symbolic mother, crooning the song of the Samurai which the poet sees in the swaying kelp. It is at this point the pantoum form falls apart... the repeat of the warrior's song "be ready, ready always to die" as code of the Samurai, "Be joyfully ready, Samurai, always ready to die".
The pantoum is beautifully bracketed by the same opening and ending line. Hurrying not/delaying not,
neither succumbing to the past, or rushing into the future, but fully grounded in the present.
Samurai are not just warriors... but trained in poetry... and their symbol is the cherry blossom, both beautiful and transient.
Bernie mentioned A Tale for the Time Being" (Ruth Ozeki) Valerie, The Power of Now. (Eckhardt Tolle). Bernie was haunted by echoes to " America the beautiful" -- such as amber "waves of grain"...
In Quarantine: The repeated "After... builds up a now familiar view of life during the past almost two years. Martin shared his process of looking at the descriptive details, which point us in the direction of some universal. We concurred the message is to act with love. Unlike the pantoum, layered and mysterious, this poem was much more straight-forward and we felt perhaps there was a leap too soon
of the "then"... Rosemary brought up the book Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett (life-threatening scenario slowly evolves into something quite different, a moment of great beauty, as terrorists and hostages forge unexpected bonds and people from different continents become compatriots, intimate friends, and lovers).
We noted there was no period at the end... as if there was much more to the story... not just a feel-good happy ending. Ken suggested a last line, "We lost the war". There is no question of the power of music-- Emily mentioned Peter Yarrow (of Peter Paul and Mary) playing for Palestinians and Israelis, and the belief of how music binds us, brings us together. https://afcfp.org/song-peter-yarrow/
Distracted from COVID: Tiffany Midge is a Sioux, and offers quite a critique of anglo culture exploiting minority images. The sarcasm of the sweeping generalizations of the opening line, "Whether of not America mourns for the Indian" and closure, "the only Indian woman gone missing that anyone notices, anyone cares
about" made me raise an eyebrow. The title, where Mia, the Indian woman, is MIA (Missing in Action),
is loaded. Where has our attention gone during COVID in terms of sensitivity to Indigenous people, to Slavery and mistreatment of Blacks...
the politically correct gesture of removing her from Land 'O Lakes... but ironically, removing a carefully detailed replica of an authentic Indian woman created by an authentic Indian artist.
The patriotism of the O, our pat O Americana... O our dab O Disneyesque, O our dollop O Heritage
smacks of appropriation and denigration. Judith felt dab is close to drab and dollop to trollope, with a hint of prostitute.
There is some "throw the baby out with the bathwater" by the PC removal of Mia... cigar store Indians (for whom tobacco has a sacred use...) is the next removal Longfellow's Hiawatha? https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/shores-gitche-gumee
Many in the first group mentioned associations with brands, images, blurbs of ads.
The concern of those in power and police for Indigenous people is low, and indeed, a missing non-wasp person will get scant notice.
Contariness: This last poem is a call on the individual against the "they" of organized culture: the experts; religions, behavior at weddings and funerals... The repeat, "So be it" (Amen) digs in the irony. God is dead, for the speaker of the poem, in organized religion... but alive and well and indeed, in close contact with him in a personal way. The ending is powerful... the great answer
of "I don't know"-- and truly embracing what supports oneself, not the establishment. Contrariness does not mean negativity.
We discussed "mad" -- a deeper meaning that either angry or insane. Perhaps the wise fool. Mad, certainly as colorful
and full of personality.
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