In the Community Garden by Mark Doty; The Gardener 85 by Rabindranath Tagore; Better Yet and The Need Is So Great by Jim Moore; A Voice I Heard Not Too Late to Make a Difference by Martin Willitts, Jr.; beware: do not read this poem by Ishmael Reed
Nutshell:
It takes a group to confirm the fascinating variety of possibilities of meaning in a group of poems. The grouping of poems had a subconscious theme of how to deal with the fact of death. Starting with the glory of "a community" of sunflowers, the discussion branched out to deal with other collective nouns. The Tagore poem and Moore poem "the need so great) triggered thoughts about the magic of dusk, Bernie's sharing of his poem about silent crows and a breathing invitation and Maura's invitation to come see spectacular sunsets from her place in Victor. Please contact her if you want to experience the beauty!
Community returns in the Martin Willitts poem, and subtly in the theme of interrelationship in the Tagore, and Emerson. The final poem reminds us of the counterpart which destroys it.
Mark Doty: This captivating poem about sunflowers with a title that suggests "we are all in this garden" subtly examines the stages of life and the bigger question whether elegy is useful, and our role in lamenting the passing of nature's magnificence as we move from Spring to Winter. Wonderful adjectives: sunflower "architecture"... "muscular leaves"... personnification -- shiningly confident... or barely able to hold head up... to be in a rush//to be nothing but form. Skyrocket passage through the world? Do flowers desire? want to live forever? Projection: How could they "stand apart from themselves and regret their passing when they are a field (hence the word community in the title) of lifting and bowing faces (like a singing church congregation?) faces ringed with flame. Comments: Bernie shared his breathing meditation: "flower fresh; mountain solid" and how he feels like an autumn flower. Many felt a childlike quality, like children writing letters to God.
Rabindranath Tagore: (1861-1941)for those not familiar with this poet, Wiki has a good introduction
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore It will not replace the fine aperçu Judith shared who mentioned that most probably he wrote this poem in English (not a translation of Bengali). We did discuss the old-fashioned use of "an" before a word starting with "h". No one would pronounce "an hundred" today.
The reader is immediately swept up in the aliveness of a living poet writing to him/her, no matter that we are reading this poem 100 years after it was written. He is sending us not just one single flower, but a wealth of flowers on spring dawn, as well as reminding us of all memories that brings from 100 years prior.
Jim Moore: 2 poems: Better yet: We enjoyed how we went from considerations of centuries, to imagining what happens before we are born.Neil brought up the question why "shame" in the list of "expected" responses to life (see my notes!)
last (of stricken) leaves with the double punch of meaning as noun and verb, the choice of stealing, slowly. Many stories about Copper Beeches -- which indeed are magnificent trees and known for their grandeur, unusual branches running close to the ground, and Elmer told us more about the fungus that curtails their lifespan of a few hundred years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fagus_sylvatica
Emerson: the introductory poem to the Poets Speak Anthology Water edited by John Roche. I would not have stumbled on the poet Martin Willitts without this anthology! I was pleased to find a recent poem by him.
Willitts: This poem immediately elicited approval with a chorus of oooooooh!!!! From the 13 syllable title, to the emotional reassurance most of us wanted to keep this poem in our pocket for a reminder of the importance of slowing down, mindful noticing of all the possibilities of vieewpoints. Unusual vocabulary included "glassful of promises and memories", with the sound of that proverbial glass half full, half empty to explain attitudes towards life. One trusts the italicized belonging to the now and how the imagination can connect us. Indeed, if you are on the look-out for "startled energies", you will be amazed by the aliveness. Polly confirmed the ability of the heron to stay in the now. We were intrigued by the shift on the 26th line, where the "I" becomes part of the whole of the world observed, and we imagine the slow signing adding to the "spell" (although he does not use this word.) The "voice" referred to in the title now returns in the last five lines, but the reader is now offered a chance to hear it, "in a place sacred only to you". Indeed, you nod affirmatively at the last line: "There's room for many possible voices to hear."
Ishmael Reed: This poem, on poet's walk is definitely political and the poem tile, "many mirrors" calls on us to look deeply and reflect. The hunger of the poem... reminded some of Shel Silverstein and story about being swallowed by a boa constrictor.
https://allpoetry.com/Boa-Constrictor What is this poem with greedy mirrors-- and how are you part of it... Ishmael point out we are all part of it -- if we saw him performing it, perhaps he would point to different people -- his head... his arms... his fingers... his fingertips... and the reader. He doesn't say "you". We are statistics. The final line delivers a multiple punch. And how do we deal with the empty space left by missing friends? Are we part of the poem, allowing them to go missing? Have we experienced losing a friend? Paid attention to the way people are invisibilized.
