January 19

 

 Sleeping in the Forest by Mary Oliver

Just Another Paradigm Shift by Paul Grant

In the Event of by Shane McCrae 

https://dcs.megaphone.fm/POETS9147027630.mp3?key=dc5d54ac6b2723ce4abb827e57a66a70

The Snowy Egret by Nancy Keating

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discussed by in-person group:

What is not by Arthur Solway

Holy Ghost, by June Robertson Bausch

Slated for discussion:  Call Us by Amanda Gorman:  you can hear her say the poem here: 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/12/13/from-call-us-what-we-carry-poetry-by-amanda-gorman

What do do about climate grief?  How to understand patterns?  What has happened in our culture that a humane neighborhood policeman described by Martin in his boyhood 8+ decades ago has been replaced by a military figure?  Finally, how do we deal with shame,  regret?

The zoom group was treated to a reading by Valerie of her poem, inspired by Jen Case, Beloved Father. I have posted her poem separately as entry. 

For the 8 people in person, and the 14 on zoom, discussing poems continues to be a healing process, sharing observations, questions, associations and stories.  Below a nutshell version of a rich and wonderful conversation!

The poem shared on 1/20 at Rundel  in the Thursday series for January is Alberto Rios, "When Giving is All We have".  https://www.facebook.com/RocCentralLibrary

When giving is all we have... is one of my favorites! His viewpoint allows a view of giving not as obligation, charity, but a concept of giving as a  way of completing ourselves in the wholeness of one.  

 

Dalai Lama reminds us that doing something for others has a positive effect on our bodies, minds, hearts... Amen to kindness...! Amen to goodness-- it makes us feel good. Desmond Tutu says, "we are wired to be compassionate". This poem is yet another reminder... giving holds hands with the happiness that rests inside us--

The discussion yesterday was this kind of giving indeed!

Nutshell:

I posted the center justified layout of Sleeping in the Forest which Kathy kindly brought to our attention as a separate blog entry. 

You might enjoy comparing the version we saw and this one in the 1/19 post FORMATTING OF THE MARY OLIVER.  The different formatting brings more hesitation.  Carolyn felt the need for it as she read it for the group.

I loved Jim's sense of humor about the "perfect trees" -- saying, how this discriminates against all

those imperfect trees. Indeed, why does she use "perfect" ?  The personification of  "small kingdoms" adds to a sense of an ideal world where nature rules.  Paul noted the five uses of the first person pronoun, I, four of which are grounded in the verbs thinking, sleeping, hearing, rising, falling, but the 5th of which vanishes (after 12 times)-- and that marvelously unexpected ending, "into something better".

The Earth can be quite cruel, and in fact some scientists point out, she could protest in a much more destructive fashion about our mistreatment of her ... although recent events might say she's escalated her retaliation.  How comforting then, to see in the beginning, an Earth who welcomes back the speaker tenderly and by extension, the reader perhaps.  There is an "exquisite pain" in the paradoxical "luminous doom".  As someone pointed out, she didn't drown as she grappled with it...  I love that the "Artistic Antidote for a Pandemic" posted this poem. 

It is reminder to accept whatever life brings... especially now in this time of pandemic.  What can we learn in this time of shutting down?  How can we be closer to nature, accept whatever it brings?

If you love trees, you might like to read Richard Powers Bewilderment, a sequel to his book The Overstory.

Just Another...  Just is one of those words in English with multiple and often contradictory meanings.  Many different interpretations of "meaning" came up, and Bernie was reminded of the Billy Collins poem, tied up  a chair, the reader trying to hose it down, whip some sense into it. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46712/introduction-to-poetry

Some saw a story about a dog,  stars and pictures of animals as constellations... some thought the eye mentioned as  being a window, a dog door, etc.  Because the poem gives a typical ending, Happy ever after,  at the beginning, and ends with the typical beginning, once upon a time, there is a sense of the poem repeating, chasing its tail.  The contrasts of  noise/shadow... dark/light... are recognizable but yet.. they don't quite match... Death is perhaps the most major paradigm shift... 

Oh yes... we agreed it was puzzling -- yet that it was saying important things... 

I asked:  did you enjoy reading it?   The answer was unanimous!  Yes! and yes... let's read it again!

In the event of...  The quiet tone in which  Shane delivers this one-sided dialogue of an innocent black man to a police officer gives it amazing weight. We are living in a time of virtual reality and overdone checks on actual reality.  The poem is as if written by a dead man.. or as if imagined or in a dream.  The "ow" sounds, how, down, bow-- howl...  at first the Officer disassociated with "how", but 3rd tercet,  Shane read it as Officer How, -- although without the enjambment you'd read "Officer, how you know I'm dead

is... No one but a dead person would appear to bow to such an officer.  Mary saw a symbolic crucifixion.

The implied militaristic stance of a policeman prompted Martin to remember the way he experienced policemen when he was growing up-- humanistic problem solvers.  He cited the story of his father who after the early death of Martin's mother, would speed.  Finally, a policeman came to him and said, 

"we've been watching you speeding and you need to know the potential dangers to you and others. Stop it."  And wouldn't you know he did. 

Let us not forget that there are kind police still and as Archbishop Desmond Tutu reminds,  that all human beings are wired to be compassionate. 

The Snowy Egret :  allowed  the conversation to continue.  Jim and Paul shared experiences of hunting, or having a gun... and the shock of accidents-- killing a blue jay or yellow finch... they never picked up a gun again.  Some thought it should be a different title.  Another thought was that the opening line should be "give me a different word for forget... something more like regret"... but clearly the poem moved us to think about the role of forgetting... whether dismissal, denial, pretense, or the tragedy of losing memory.  The memory of "unremembered shame" is strange enough to give pause to the importance of what that ache in the stomach has told us all along when we feel guilty.   Marna researched the author and provided us the link to White Chick https://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet-books/reviews/156944/white-chick. Perhaps there is an overtone of white femininity... both the privilege but also the limitation.  Ken brought up the "righteousness" of the fox hunt... and Judith  reminded us of the fact that humans can be described as a cruel species.  

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The zoom group ended here, with Valerie's beautiful reading of her poem about her father I have posted her poem separately as entry on 1/19.

The in-person group discussed the next two poems.

What is not: 

a little too clever with not/knot/naught... without any sense of real mystery.

Holy Ghost: the poet apparently was/is struggling with cancer. We had a sense of a poem describing a surreal setting and critique of church  with a turn with the last three stanzas.  We do grasp at anything.

The Merwin is slated for next week!