The Meaning of Simplicity by Yannos Ritsos
Utopia by Wisława Szymborska (with map by Maria Popova!)
A Common Saw by Howard Nemerov
While Shaving by Alfredo Aguilar
A Cut-up Mango by Stephanie Qin (age 12)
What words in poems leave you with a sense of being "stuck" and unable to fathom ?
in the poem by Ritsos, with such a beguilingly simple title filled with a promise of clear definition,
indeed, he shows us the complexity of simplicity.
Is it Simplicity speaking in the first stanza? The next two stanzas provide us with observations,
and we carefully shared what we noticed and wondered. The August moon... not a spring moon,
or winter moon, but a ripe summer moon, perhaps one of the rare "blue moons" that occur in August, which sometimes has two full moons. Regardless, it lights an empty table... and silence kneeling.
The gleam is compared to one provided by a tin kitchen kettle. Not a fancy kettle, and perhaps some have association with tin as a thin coating, once used to prevent corrosion. How is the parenthetical comment like this gleam?
Of course, the power of such imagery allows the reader to feel the space in the stanza, the sense of waiting, with the repeated "silence is always kneeling" underlining a quiet quality of attentive reflection, listening.
We struggled to understand how a single word is an exodus -- a mass departure -- the line break further
confuses the meaning of a meeting cancelled many times. One thought is the power of a single word,
its intent to be saved... and what needs to be saved and said? The final line, sums it up...
one true word, insisting on its meaning.
One thought was that poems often gather meaning that becomes clear in a final stanza. Indeed, it could stand by itself, but without this idea of "hiding", and implied seeking, in the first stanza, the patience
of the kneeling in the second, the "singularity " of a word coming to meet "meaning", the chance of
its truth insisting would not be the same.
Stripping down to essentials in this day and age filled with "too much" is a challenge. Sue mentioned the
advantages of dispensing with social media and technology.
Simplicity? It is not about ease, but rather a desirable coat of clarity that allows what is essential to shine.
Utopia: Paul reminded us of the Greek Ou-Topos (No where) which puns on Eu-Topos (a good place.)
Many contributed titles of literature about the "ideal", including the popularity of the late 19th c. Erehwon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erewhon in the 1970's, mention of Thomas More, and Erasmus, In Praise of Folly (for more reading: https://academic.oup.com/policy-press-scholarship-online/book/21118/chapter-abstract/180715160?redirectedFrom=fulltext#)
Szymborska's wit and punning are brilliantly translated by (prize-winning translators) Clare Cavanagh and Stanislaw Baranaczak. We had fun making fun of the "perfect world" which no one really wants, because of the nature of man and his attachment to Ego. (Eckert Tolle: read The Power of Now).
The most paradoxical of the "evident benefits" of this Utopic Island seemed to be this stanza:
The thicker the woods, the vaster the vista: /the Valley of Obviously. Not only did we appreciate the alliterative V's for their sound and shape, but the delightful suggestion that "being lost in the woods, unable to see the forest for the trees" might allow vision. This led to entertaining comments about how boring life would be without the interest of complexity, and indeed, how the idea of Utopia for EVERYONE is impossible! (enoyreve!!!! -- "everyone", backwards: looks like an attempt to say in French, annoying dream!)
A Common Saw: I'm not sure you know how many saws are out there (hundreds), and quite the choice of "common" one... all with teeth. A fun expression for a commonplace, and perhaps practical truth.
The epigraph comes from Act. 2 of King Lear -- In contemporary English : "Good King, you're just proving the old saying that everything goes from good to bad". This is following a hilarious bout of insults, and followed by taking out a letter from Cordelia, who is away ... " Go lines 170 if you wish more: https://www.litcharts.com/shakescleare/shakespeare-translations/king-lear/act-2-scene-2...
I wish I knew Nemerov's thinking, taking King Lear as starting point to arrive at his reflections on religion! Bernie provided this humorous joke among Jews: You know how it goes, 3 Jews? 5 synagogues. Poor God scrambling around to perform... "no possible way out/but my salvation".
The ironic wit is superb. We have discussed in other poems how replacing "Love" in the commandment, "Love thy neighbor as thyself" with "be kind", would make for a better world. Indeed, Nemerov gives us
another spin, with "Dame Kind". We agreed that the use of the word "dumb" here refers to "Mute".
Back to Ritsos and silence kneeling.
While Shaving: A most tender portrait of a father and son. It reminded Emily of Li-Young Lee's poem
The Gift, where the father's hands remove a shard with tenderness: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43010/the-gift-56d221adc12b8
We discussed briefly the end of stanza two, and the description of the wife/mother "leaving like light--
"All at once, leaving no trace it had ever shone there." The detail later, that mixture of "pride and sorrow"
becomes the poignant. The final stanza gives us a surprisingly beautiful conclusion, opening a reflection
on the healing effect of the passage of time.
A Cut up Mango: We were in awe of the skill of this poem! How could a 12-year old write so amazingly well, capturing the difficulty of not only adolescence, but being outsider, not know language or culture.
The metaphor of a mango is "milked" to full capacity. Sprinkled in the poems are words
most 12 year olds would not use: nostalgia; autopsy; empathy; The timing, pacing, the cleverness
of the mango metaphor (once cut, its secrets exposed; veins popping out which make it taste terrible... sticky... ) The poet asks if she ever changed and gifts us with a mirror of ourselves. No, not really. I do the same foolish things over and over again. We join her, as she repeats, Did I change? Her "maybe
yes" and ending provide the mango's answer.
No comments:
Post a Comment