Poems for July 26

 Life While You Wait by Wisława Szymborska

Love at First Sight  by Wislawa Szymborska (1923 –2012)

Love After Love” by Derek Walcott

Prothalamion by Maxine Kumin**

Ode to the Automobile and Human Happiness  by Alice Ostriker

For Once, Then, Something by Robert Frost - 1874-1963

announcements:

-- Drama with a Beat : https://wab.org/event/drama-with-a-beat-ages-8-11-2/

Marna mentioned this picture book which explores "where music comes from"  Before Music : Annette Pimentel

https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/before-music_9781419745553/

--  Genesee Valley Calligraphy Guild:  Artist reception 

http://www.gvcalligraphy.org/

Nutshell:

prelude

I started with this ASL poem which appeared  yesterday on Poem a day.  (the poem is on the extra link on the blog) you can enjoy watching it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LPheGnxJNo

dance, poetry... beautiful moving silence loud enough for us to access. the poet grew up deaf (and long forbidden to sign until  fourteen years old) in a hearing family of nine children in the U.P.(Upper Peninsula, MI) ; his says: "my feelings about the region are intricately colored by how I was treated as a second-class citizen within my own family; ‘Otters’ hints at this situation. The woods across the street from my mother’s house enabled me to cope with the hearing world in ways that ultimately saved me.”

I mentioned that John Clark, author of How to Communicate is the curator this month of the Poem-a-Day.  (We discussed his poems and techniques in February of this year.)

Szymborska :  

1) Life while you wait : Elaine R noted the repeat of title in the first line where "while-you-wait" turns into an adjective function to describe possibilities of how one might live life.  Graeme and others concurred what a brilliant philosopher she is and so witty in her honesty about our human tendency to want to be in charge of "what happens".  Case in point, Martin confessed he was not going to read, as he was not certain he could do a good job, but went ahead anyway, (with a positive result) encouraged by the spirit of the poem. He sums up, with this question, "how do we manage anything these days", with the example of navigating a car on the road.  This prompted Judith to remind that humans are descended from fish, given the ability of how schools of fish, to avoid collision. She added the welcome wit of A.A. Milne from Now We are Six (do see Ernest Shepard's illustrations!)  https://allpoetry.com/The-Knight-Whose-Armour-Didn%27t-Squeak 

Back to the poem, indeed,  Szymborska is narrator of a play... which encourage Susan to quote Shakespeare: "All the world's a stage... "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_the_world%27s_a_stage.

Discussion included comments about how cruel extenuating circumstances can be; delight in the images such as "your character like a raincoat you button on the run", the contrast  between machine model and us (humans)  without a script,  the liberating effect of the playful mockery, and the versatility, as depending on your tone, you can match your personal life view.    

2)  Love at First Sight  : a similar mix of brilliant wit and wise observation about falling in love, with novel angles of how it might happen (on par with life's haphazard distribution of scripts and roles).

Kathy picked up on the character "Chance" (toying with lovers) and the multiple directions its personality and role could take:  Does it stiffle a laugh, of its own, or of the lovers?  And what kind of leap as it springs out of the way?  The fact that there are no answers and possibilities multiply increases the humor.

This comforted Richard who looking at the ending, thinking his statement "Every moment is a premiere" contradicted.  We discussed the benefit of "both... and" -- perhaps indeed " Every beginning

is only a sequel, after all,/and the book of events is always open halfway through.-- but this doesn't mean a splash of an entrance is not possible!

Graeme shared the anecdote of the unlikely possibility of his daughter, moving into a dorm at college,

seeing a friendly young man, and knowing "that's the one".  Indeed, he did wind up as her husband!

**

Bernie recommended this film:

Everything, everywhere all at once + Movie

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6710474/

Susan recommended this movie (playing at the Little until 7/27) : Past Lives (at the Little) https://thelittle.org/past-lives/  explaining the amusing homonym she heard in "past" as "passed".

Elaine O recommended this book: Kate Atkinson:  Life after Life.https://www.amazon.com/Life-After-Novel-Kate-Atkinson/dp/0316176494

 

Love After Love” by Derek Walcott

Although I'm sure we've discussed this wonderful poem before, like any poem worth its salt, a timeless and welcome addition with its flavor of Rumi, or as Claudia put it, the perfect antidote to someone who feels depressed.

Again, this difficulty we have of accepting ourselves... but here, not presented in a wry fashion, but with such a "loving rhythm", as if breathing in the meditation.  We spoke of the power of the word "feast", which is in every language, not just as "eating" but celebratory act, a festive ritual.  Bernie noted the one-word acts that require us to stop: eat. sit. give wine. give bread.  The simple acts given space, time. 

Elaine R called on the versatility of the title that can be read (hence understood)  in multiple ways. 

Judith was reminded of this fabulous George Herbert poem: ( and I did sit and eat...)

 https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44367/love-iii.  Elaine O was reminded of Michael Pollan: "Eat Food.  Not too much.  Mostly plants." 

Kumin: she provides a perfect sonnet using a tennis as the preparatory game for the story of a marriage. The scoring "love", I have heard comes from Brits hearing French play and call zero "l'oeuf" (an egg).  Just the game itself comes from Tenez -- here... be ready, I'm sending you the ball. Paul was delighted to be reminded of Spenser (and beloved 17th century British poets) and his long wedding poem,  Epithalamion.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45191/epithalamion-56d22497d00d4

Ostriker: This poem triggered "fleets" of car memories and associations as well as thoughts about why and how happiness and cars go so well together, and the guilt we have now about using cars.

Paul mentioned how it might not be an "important" poem-- but on the other hand, the memories it elicits are very much  loaded with important meanings! Rendez-vous, kisses, winding roads, the Hutch and expectations became realities; Kathy's real forest green Chevrolet,  (and see the USA with Chevrolet!) Marna's VW she called Maud that she could fix herself... the memory of endless night excursions with friends...

As for "freedom" the poem does not say it is a guarantee... only a promise... like the promise of happiness. 

We went full circle back to the first poem, and our expectations of life and how we love to believe they can be.  No car or life can do it.. but we love to think it does...

For Once, Then, Something by Frost was the last poem only because Ostriker had mentioned it in her note about a little distillation of joy... for once... something.

We picked up on the criticism inherent in the opening line -- here is someone taunted by others... and later, even nature rebukes. The weaving of the title, the repetition of picture... the clever management of precise imagery, not to mention the sound of sense is all admirable.  You think you've got it?  As one person remarked, it's not truth that is lost, it's the person in the poem feeling lost.  The pebble is more than a pebble and we're off... thinking about what makes something something, the unspoken "once it was" that morphs  on the hinge of time as then goes from past to what happens next as a consequence.

I brought up the crazy art experiment of a man taking a picture of himself punching a time clock, 24 hours a day for a year.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=tvebnkjwTeU

What changes?  I liked this commentary in the chat.“We originate from dark abyss.  Our finish is in dark abyss.  Ths time in between we call life”.

CertainlyTehching Hsieh’s “Time Clock piece” helps us to think about how we “pass time”.  Whether taking a photograph of yourself “punching in” every hour for a year, or observing habits some might call “hard-working” or attitudes some might determine as leading to “lazy”, this certainly triggers a meditation on time, how we deal with it.

Likewise, this idea of defining “same”, or “equal” which is different from “similar” or “parallel” … or..or..or… and… and… and…

As ever a rousing discussion and magnificent session!  Thank you all 

A little Extra from 7/26 opening/closing poems + Links from Carnegie Mellon discussion of monuments

We started with this ALS gloss/performed poem

Otters by  Raymond Luczak

: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LPheGnxJNo

dance, poetry... beautiful moving silence loud enough for us to access.

the poet grew up deaf (and long forbidden to sign until  fourteen years old) in a hearing family of nine children in the U.P.(Upper Peninsula, MI) ; his says: "my feelings about the region are intricately colored by how I was treated as a second-class citizen within my own family; ‘Otters’ hints at this situation. The woods across the street from my mother’s house enabled me to cope with the hearing world in ways that ultimately saved me.”

 

[English 

in a documentary 

they dove in 

into the burble 

of river, braiding 

around each other 

their combed fur 

shining in the sun 

their eyes twinkling (see signs!)

watching them 

I wished my hearing siblings 

had been more like them 

always pulling me in

to cavort with them

 

[ASL gloss]

me watch-watch d-o-c-u-m-e-n-t-a-r-y 

{creature-wriggle creature-wriggle} 

water {cascade-left-right-down} 

{creature-dive-down creature-rise-up 

around-each-other 

fur-lining-arms-chest} wet 

sun {on-me} 

chest-shine-shine 

eyes-shine-shine 

me-wish hearing brother-sister 

same-same 

{creature-dive-down creature-rise-up} 

come-on-come-on 

join play-play

 **

We ended with this poem by Danez Smith. 

**

not an elegy for Mike Brown by Danez Smith

 

I am sick of writing this poem

but bring the boy. his new name

 

his same old body. ordinary, black

dead thing. bring him & we will mourn

until we forget what we are mourning

 

& isn’t that what being black is about?

not the joy of it, but the feeling

 

you get when you are looking

at your child, turn your head,

then, poof, no more child.

 

that feeling. that’s black.

 

\\

 

think: once, a white girl

 

was kidnapped & that’s the Trojan war.

 

later, up the block, Troy got shot

& that was Tuesday. are we not worthy

 

of a city of ash? of 1000 ships

launched because we are missed?

 

always, something deserves to be burned.

it’s never the right thing now a days.

 

I demand a war to bring the dead boy back

no matter what his name is this time.

 

I at least demand a song. a song will do just fine.

 

\\

 

look at what the lord has made.

above Missouri, sweet smoke.

https://www.splitthisrock.org/poetry-database/poem/not-an-elegy-for-mike-brown

**

links shared from  Carnegie-Mellon Org. presentation American Monuments, 

American Cities https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX1uItbxIkg

 

https://www.mellon.org/ideas/monuments-and-memory

How do we relate to monuments?  What is celebrated? Remembered?

 

https://www.broward.org/BCT/Threads/Pages/default.aspx

 

Puerto Rico: Jaime Suárez "Tótem Telúrico*" (1992)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaza_del_Quinto_Centenario

 

Numbe Whageh (means "spiritual center place" in Tewa Language spoken by Pueblo peoples in Northern NM by Nora Naranjo Morse's earthwork.

https://www.cabq.gov/artsculture/albuquerque-museum/exhibitions/sculpture-garden-exhibition/cuarto-centenario/naranjo-morse-numbe-whageh

 

NPR News 7/25:

President Biden is expected to designate three sites as a national monument for Emmett Till today. Two sites are in Mississippi, where Till was abducted, tortured, and killed in 1955 at 14 years old. Today would have been his 82nd birthday. A third site in Illinois will honor his mother, who insisted on an open casket funeral for her son to show the brutality of the Jim Crow South. 

July 19

 Tolstoy and the Spider: Jane Hirschfield

 Characteristics of Life  by Camille T. Dungy 

Pentimento  by Jennifer Pruden Colligan  

Metaphor of America as this homegrown painted lady chrysalis -- Camille Dungy[1]

Metaphor of America

Em Dash  by Katie Dozier (KHD)

Lines to a Nasturtium by Anne Spencer 1882 –1975

---

[1] p. 282 of her book Soil:The Story of a Black Mother's Garden

Nutshell:  

Hirschfield: It was perfect that Paul opening the reading of the first poem with imitation dramatic coughing... not that we are suffering from wildfire smoke right now, but we could imagine the smoke from Tolstoy's scenes of Moscow burning... 

The fun of putting two disparate elements, such as a classic novel and a spider is perfect territory for poetry!  Hard not to think of the role of Charlotte, in Charlotte's web.  I asked if  this were the kind of poem people would want to read  again after reading it the first time.  The 14 of us present, agreed, we would.  Judith mentioned the weird way the fire in Moscow has an effect and yet doesn't ...  The mention of directions at the end, evokes the fairytale quality of East of Sun, West of the Moon...We spent some time on that word "back".  Why do we  go back to a story?  How does a story travel back?  Perhaps for the "what ifs" and alternative choices exploring all directions and possibilities.  I was reminded of the poem Otherwise by a similarly spirited poet, Jane Kenyon.  https://wordsfortheyear.com/2016/08/22/otherwise-by-jane-kenyon/

If you think about each moment in your day... how easily it could be otherwise... and for sure, at the end, when we will be no longer, we will be in an otherwise for which no one can imagine description.  

I had included the opening lines of Hirschfield's poem, "Sheep" below the first poem as poetic food for thought. .  It is the work of feeling /to undo expectation.  https://spokensongpdx.blogspot.com/2013/08/it-is-work-of-feeling-to-undo.html

Both references came from https://fivepoints.gsu.edu/issue/five-points-vol-13-3/

Pentimento:  Like rewinding a story... discovering a new direction from a backstory or hints from a palimpsest... The advantages of a "leaky camera" letting light in, came in.  (Speaking of which, do check out the current exhibit at Image City  https://www.imagecityphotographygallery.com/-- where there are wonderful photographs that explore this as well as  collage technique.   The word, chrism used in the poem is a mixture of oil and balsam, consecrated and used for anointing at Baptism, Last Rites in the Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican churches.  Definitely a feel of a painting of Good Friday, Resurrection and Christmas.  

Dungy: Characteristics of Life

What matters?  Why should we care about extinction of species?  We were reminded of Richard Dawkin and other environmentalists and the intertwining of life. We admired  the phrasing for the qualities mentioned: "underneathedness", the frowning on "spinelessness", inconsistency.  Should we be silent as we observe the threats to our fragile planet? The poems ends in affirmation of  the possibility to change.  It is linked to longing -- and here, each reader can fill in what this is, provided only with two images:   distances between meadows of night-blooming flowers; the impossible hope of the firefly. This is enough to remind us to become like the firefly and express our hopes.  Write your congress reps; letters to editors. Share this poem!

Metaphor of America as this homegrown painted lady chrysalis: here, as Judith pointed out, Dungy has "her tongue very stuck in her cheek".  The description of this butterfly gives hope.  Claudia shared how there is a metamorphosis of our society... more emphasis on black/brown and a greater awareness of the complexity, the explosive power of that touch of white.

Metaphor of America:  Judith felt echos of EE Cummings https://genius.com/E-e-cummings-next-to-of-course-god-america-i-annotated    with a touch of Gertrude Stein (rose is a rose).  But Parody with deep meaning.  This led to a discussion about tone... and the danger of its extinction in technology which compounds the struggle for understanding with texting and email. 

Anne Spencer:  Knowing her dates, her activism and that she was the first Black Woman poet in the Norton Anthology in 1973 will confirm overtones and underlayers of the struggle of being black, being an artist, especially as a woman.  I enjoyed this review of it, especially if the poem be considered a passionate valentine-- but with strange knots in the lace!  https://frankhudson.org/2018/02/14/lines-to-a-nasturtium/

We concurred it is beautifully crafted and quite consciously controlled.  Judith mentioned how it would be a perfect candidate to be set to music, by Benjamin Britten.  (If Britten's genius in the area  interests you:  https://books.google.com/books/about/Benjamin_Britten_s_Poets.html?id=YQEUAQAAIAAJ (

Anne Spencer's Nasturtiums sent me looking for more of her poetry: https://www.literaryladiesguide.com/classic-women-authors-poetry/10-poems-by-anne-spencer-about-nature-love-and-life/

Earth, I thank you

for the pleasure of your language

You’ve had a hard time

bringing it to me

I'm not so sure about "grunting through the noun" and prefer "1975"

1975

 

Turn an earth clod

Peel a shaley rock

In fondness molest a curly worm

Whose familiar is everywhere

Kneel

And the curly worm sentient now

Will light the word that tells the poet what a poem is.

 

Admire the "read and seed" in this  game of "Taboo" -- and the surprising end to her poem "Translation" : My soul so leapt that my evening prayer

Stole my morning song!

 

July 12

Poems for 7/12

How Do You Really Do?  by Peter Sears

When the Red Wind Blows  by Peter Sears

When I Listen in My Car to Mozart's "Don Giovanni" by Peter Sears

Postcard to Herself  by Peter Sears

By the White Toppling Sea  by Peter Sears

A Pretty Pass  by Ted Kooser

Answer July by Emily Dickinson

 

 “poetry’s medium is the individual chest and throat and mouth of whoever undertakes to say the poem.” It is a physical embodiment that changes us and the spaces we occupy. The poem creates an environment.-- Robert Pinsky

 

Perhaps the above quote is one of the secrets of our enjoyable in-person discussions!  Each voice participating, whether to read a poem aloud, or to make comment is joining the poems to create a humane environment in which to consider where these words take us with our thoughts and experiences.  Dividends this week: The Kooser poem brought up the various implications of "pretty" associated with pass, and Judith was reminded of this trio from the Mikado:  https://www.gsarchive.net/mikado/webopera/mk204.html

 

She also mentioned her introduction to Poetry, her grandmother's book... Doorways to Poetry when I quoted Yannis Ritsos and his idea that each word was a doorway... we will discuss his idea in the last stanza of The Meaning of Simplicity at a later date.

 

Finally, Paul provided us a reading of 1936 by Stephen Vincent Benet:   

https://allpoetry.com/poem/8513525-1936-by-Stephen-Vincent-Benet

 

 Nutshell:  to find out more about Peter Sears: https://www.oregonhumanities.org/rll/beyond-the-margins/remembering-peter-sears/

How do you really do? The title can be read in multiple ways depending on where you put the accent. We had fun with the "left field" details as one person put it and how the poem veered to a tone of the wondering mind, appropriate to the POV of a child.  Then again, the "one straight line" in the poem "I try to forget that I'm letting myself down" which addresses the theme of how we response to the exigencies of societal correctness exemplied by "Mr. and Mrs. Very Big Deal" , seems spoken by an adult.  Perhaps, as in the next poem, a hint at our fear that we are not being courageous enough?  And  when (and how) do you stiffle your inner squeal?  That aside, a brilliant exposure of "bullshit" sharply observed with a clever parallel of visceral reactions...

There are multiple ways of understanding, "How are you doing":  as financial question, a general interest in well-being, or curiosity about what someone is up to.  We did spend a minute admiring the use of "vegetable wad" for money, which led to other ways of looking at food metaphors for it : https://savingk.com/food-slang-words-for-money/

 

When the Red Wind Blows: the title opens the poem  and closes it with a repeat.  Beautiful form with a long fog-horn O blowing (perhaps howling) through.  We discussed possibilities of what a "red wind" means, and how the poem is serious but with overtones that feel devastating.

The ghost of the dog that " flies over landscape- gesture of undulating wave" changes the tone from the opening philosophical questions, moves on to a war image.  So red, and death certainly seem coupled. Perhaps too a sense of ecological disaster... Regardless what conclusion, a memorable poem worthy of memorizing.

 

Don Giovanni:  As one person summarized: wow!  he sure packs a lot in one poem.  This one deserves multiple re-readings to capture the nuances of music, how we relate to it, are moved by it.  The small nugget about our concern over "how we appear to others" comes at the end.

I gave this link to  an amusing article about Mozart -- towards the end a glimpse of insights about Don Giovanni.. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/07/24/the-storm-of-style

 

Postcard to Herself : The vocabulary, to the point of playing with the French city "Nice", and the pretty and nice image of a self-absorbed young lady -- you can see from these lines:  

 ruffled, she went sluffing by the sea,

sealed in the pink envelope of herself.

Oblivious to "fireworks of flowers", the reader gathers that she missed out on the one bird with wings of black glass, rocking down a slope, she watched fade out.

 

By the White Toppling Sea: One is immediately captivated by the meter, like Longfellow's Hiawatha. I had made I was curious about Lithuanian folk tales.  Not sure if this poem has any reference to the legend of Neringa, a good hearted giantess. We enjenjoyed the form, imagined niads (sea nymphs)

 

Pretty Pass:  Technically, this is a sarcastic reference to things not going so well... but Kooser works the "pretty", the returned letter, not passing up the opportunity to try again, the sewing, mending, covid, yes, a look at our world, and how it's not so bad to leave it at a certain point.

 

Dickinson: One of Emily's delightful short poems of question/answer that rhymes us through the seasons. 

 

 

 

Poems for July 5 and important questions.

 A Dream of the Future by Joyce Sutphen

Long After I'm Gone  by Peter Sears

I First Practiced Picking Up Small Things  by Peter Sears

Choosing a Dog  by William Stafford*

Nativity Poem  by Louise Glück*

You and I  by Stanley Moss

Abou ben Adhem  by (James Henry) Leigh Hunt (1834)

We started the session listening to "Lovely Day"   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEeaS6fuUoA-- which I picked up from reading Camille Dungy's book Soil, a  delightfully thoughtful and well-written book. Camille is a fine poet who lives and teaches in Fort Collins, CO and is keen on ecology and respect for what goes into soil — which happens to be the title of her book. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Soil/Camille-T-Dungy/9781982195304

The subtitle is “The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden” . There are beautiful b&w sketches of wild plants before the start of each chapter.  It’s a well-written history of being black in this country, as well as a foray into what makes a healthy relationship — not just to the earth, but to family, community.

The poems this week got us talking about memory — how a memory will pop up like toast (image in Peter Sears' poem) — and our fear as older people that we are losing memory… and yet, are remembering more about childhood and the childhood of our children.  Funny paradox.  Hopefully you have a lot of fun memories as a kid!

Nutshell:

Sutphen: perfect capture of a dream... and how we prepare for the end of life. Comments: mysterious.  back and forth is enjoyable and keeps us reading.  One person shared a German lady's comment about English... it isn't back and forth - you have to go forth before you go back!  What scares us; how we face it. fairy tale/mythic feel without any overkill.  Judith brought up the Papashvly folk tales ("Yes and No, Georgian Folk Stories" -- in the library!) which do not start "once upon a time", but this way:  There was... and there was not and yet there was.

Sears: I see that in 2014, I did share many of Peter Sears' poems.  I'm so delighted that everyone enjoyed the two this week in the same way... a certain lightheartedness with depth, a humble self-confidence perhaps, an almost audacity of the speaker of the poem as if not even aware he is the one in charge.

We finished each poem feeling we had spent valuable time with someone who produces good work,

appreciative of the power of imagination, feeling just a little more connected to our human realities. 

It turns out Long After I'm Gone  was used at St. Catherine’s, here in Mendon, NY !  Mary told us about hearing it in the sermon!

spirituality... getting ready to go...  She also said how easy it was to talk to her predeceased sister, Anne, and the poem reminded her of that.  We all noted the clever use of language and the strange phenomena of being in the middle of something... and memory pops up... or goes "kerplunk", and perfect sound.  The mixed metaphor of "feeding tumbles/of quarters into the dryers' dry mouths", trying to keep the spinning going, add a poignancy to the sense of "getting ready to go."

Such a sweet moment of father/daughter will never return, and whether or not it happened, Peter's daughter will always have it.

Maura mentioned how her daughter couldn't remember her Dad, who passed away when she was little, and how hard not 

 to have childhood memories.  Indeed, we felt fortunate as we shared them!

I first practised:  This poem also had us in hoots-- and admiring the multiple directions you could adopt.  Description of a dog; 

evolution of human kind; .metaphors for trying to fit in; and the surprise ending about the town meeting!  Judith thought it would be  interesting if teaching dance to children... and shared a  memory of picking up marbles w/ toes (something her husband's vertical toes could never accomplish!);  

Marne brought up the exercise program radio Taizo --

The Three-Minute Workout the Japanese Do Every Morning  InsideHook https://www.insidehook.com › Health & Fitness

Stafford: Seems to be the poem is about choosing, perhaps a way to live, and all that we can't pin down about having a friend/a dog.  The discussion of course involved dogs, and wondering what they might say about humans, about noise, climate change... 

See Abby's questions below:  Did you learn something about this?  no... just enjoyable!  Maura brought up again Shel Silverstein:  the missing piece...  see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT0wKeJQvGk

Perhaps another question to add: Did you feel totally different about the poem when you read it alone

than from after discussing.

 

Glück:  We were speechless after hearing this poem.  A poem about birth of sacred.  The rawness of the angels "bearing down on the barn", the extraordinary yet simple scene, the sounds, both the assonance of the i and the liquidity of l's.  Linen, the course textile, used as shroud, fortells the end... and why does does she tell us that the gesture of touching his cheek mean that Joseph is weeping?  

Judith mentioned that angels are usually portrayed as formal creatures in gorgeous fabrics but not for Giotto... angels made small having fits in this scene of the crucifixion. https://www.thehistoryofart.org/giotto/crucifixion/

Moss:  This poem couldn't stand up to the power of the Glück.  Sure, after an anonymous 13th-century Hebrew poem, and following a long tradition of asking God what he is up to, and asking for an answer.

Reference to Jewish philosophy, mercy, generosity and giving.  It could be a healing poem... 

We ended by reading the Leigh Hunt.  No dry eye if you say this one outloud.

 

*Two poems my MFA colleague Abby considers successful, because they follow a path of clarity and progressive accessibility.  They are not easy poems.  They connect, serve as adequate representations of the rest of the writers' work.  There's a sense of craft. 

When you hear the word, contemporary poetry what comes to mind? What do you find frustrating?

What do you find enjoyable? 

Could you picture the poem happening as you read it?

What stands out?

Did you think you learned anything from reading these poems?  Did you come away thinking in a new way?

Do you have any questions you would ask the authors if you could?   

These questions come from Abby Murray's 2009 thesis she presented at Pacific University, OR.

In re-reading her thesis, I came up with another question: Compared to reading the newspaper and other media, what is your level of trust in reading poems?  Is "trusting" important to you when it comes to poetry?

**

We ended with Abou ben Adhem inspired by Maura's life-size clay bust of him.