June 5

Grace by Orlando Ricardo Menes; [ode to the water beneath Kapūkakī also known as Red Hill] by Jake Eduardo  Vermaas; Borrow by Sarah McCartt-Jackson; Parable by Nickole Brown; Perceptive by B. K. Fischer; The Land of Beginning Again by Louisa Fletcher

 I wish to thank "Poem-a-Day" curator for the month of May, No'u Revilla.  She is  an ʻŌiwi (Hawaiian) poet and educator, born and raised on Maui.  Revilla says that she gravitated toward poems “that do not look away” from the reality of our world, and, in that witnessing, offer a comfort that keeps “our tenderness alive. She prioritizes aloha, collaboration, and gratitude in her practice. Her debut book Ask the Brindled (Milkweed Editions, 2022) was a winner of the 2021 National Poetry Series.  The 2nd and 3rd poem were her picks.  

I wish also to call attention to more eco poetry:https://poets.org/poem/2022-2023-laureate-fellows-collaborative-poem and to the poetry collection "Ceive" from which the poem "Perceptive" is drawn.  https://shopthemarketplace.com/get-it-now/product/ceive-by-b-k-fischer-paperback-target-d81ceb   I love that Fischer uses just the root, Ceive, in the title (to found, get).  Note how it changes with the prefix:  re: again.  It can refer to both tangible and intangible things. When you conceive something, such as an idea or plan, you form, imagine, or create it. If you deceive, trick, etc.  To "perceive" means to become aware or conscious of something through the senses or mental processes. 

All of the poems discussed thoughtfully present the crisis we are facing because of lack of careful stewardship of our planet. One person brought up Birchbark Canoe: https://www.amazon.com/Birchbark-Canoe-Living-Among-Algonquins/dp/1552091503 and the fact that the Indigenous People in our country have always known how to work with nature for the good of all.

From another poet, Trebbe Johnson, who founded Radical Joy in 2009, responding to the grief of wars and destruction of the environment: “Imagine people all over the world taking time to pay attention to places that have become damaged or endangered… visiting them, sharing stories, making gifts for them, and even ‘adopting them’ by caring for them on a regular basis.” (See https://radicaljoy.org)

 

Nutshell

Grace: 

In 18 lines the poet explores Grace by contrasting it with money, legal systems, creeds:

you cannot buy it, swap it for gold or "hedge" it against bad luck. The poet describes it as

asymmetric, immanent, absolute, unpredictable.  Without using the word paradoxical, the poet shows it also as full/empty, to arrive inopportunely to slip under hope, upset earnest prayer, tease faith.  Elaine brought up the example of falling in love at the wrong time. We loved the marvelously metered "copious cumuli".  The poem ends with a comparison of grace with the power of rain to drench the drought-scourged earth.

 

Note, I have used the words in the poem, summarized somewhat.  What I find interesting about this poem is that it is an invitation to think about grace and its role.  Imagine the other poems in a collection called "The Gospel of Wildflowers and Weeds".   What might you write to add to such a collection?

 

We had the feeling of "grace" in our gathering of kindred spirits.

 [ode to the water ...

With the river dividing two sections, even if read, as Richard did, with a pause between, the poem imitates the struggle of water to stay clean.  One senses also the impact of colonial takeover and drama of the fuel leakage from the American base.  The Filipino words (the poet is Filipino) add an indigenous flavor, but this is Hawaii, not the Philippines.  There are no capital letters.

You might enjoy reading about Hawai'i's poet Laureate: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet-books/2011/04/on-brandy-nalani-mcdougalls-the-salt-wind-ka-makani-pakai.   She writes an article in the Spring-Summer issue of American Poet (Vol. 66) "On Puka and Portals" -- many many openings, but none to go out through. Puka, as door, window, portal; verb to emergy from.  She shares other Hawai'ian words, such as kinikini -- a word that describes something plentiful, and the fondness of the language (ōlelo) for riddles. (nane).

Borrow:  Interesting opposition between humans and the harm we inflict and nature.  The first sentence points out the "misuse" of the verb "borrow" of all we cannot return after taking.   Who is "we", and why does the poet change switch to commands (Tamp down... listen)?  Certainly, after reading one feels more sensitized to the negative impact of humans.

We spoke at length about ecology.  Two examples:  Elmer brought up  the impact of the grain trucks and ruined ecology of the prairies. Kathy brought up the very visceral impact of the cottonwoods with their root systems, searching for water, the mountain stream the way it used to be now gone. 

Parable:  It starts with jumbled proverbs, idioms and one senses that the poet knows horses very well.  

At the 6th stanza, the poem introduces the word, cicada and the problem of words which lead us away from understanding through our body and senses.  The wisdom of the horse to listen to "the confused rooster stuttering", the sounds of winter coming goes beyond mere words to deeper meanings/contexts.  We found it curious that it is the deafening wing-scrape of the Cicada that seems to cry out,  confirming all living things want the same thing:  let live, let live, let live.   You could ask if  humans do, given our behavior.

Perceptive:  One person summed up the poem as the sea's complaint about all that is thrown into it.

We enjoyed the couplets and "interruptions" of stanza enjambments.  Brilliant play on "psalter" and salt of the sea, with book of psalms.  We discussed the idea of sea as "crone" as one of the three stages of womanhood— a certain crankiness with the wisdom of an older woman.  

The Land...  Beautiful rhythms reminiscent of Walter de la Mare, A.A. Milne in this poem referring to the hardship of this late 19th century/early 20th century woman (married for a spell  to Tarkington).

As final poem in the set addressing ecology, it seemed fitting to fervently wish for a land "of beginning again", and have things such as "colonialization" done away with-- and try to live quite differently.