"So few grains of happiness / measured against all the dark / and still the scales balance,”-- from The Weighing by Jane Hirshfield
Blessing of Boats by Lucille Clifton; The Trouble with Poetry, by Billy Collins; Spring by Marjory Wentworth; The People of Tao-chu by Po Chu; Walking an Old Dog by Lisa Chavez; How My Father Learned English by Juan J. Morales; Rules for flying by Allyson Whipple
For Wednesday: Paul re- read his response on Feb. 24 to John Donne's Canonization. Maura brought in "We are Not Alone" by Israel Emiot; https://mag.rochester.edu/walk/poets-walk/a-stone-also-hears
Marna brought in "My First Typewriter" by Billy Collins. in new book by Billy Collins: Water, Water
I shared this version:
Nutshell: April 16-7A good poem is not about meaning, but what it does -- how it makes us feel. The last three poems selected this in the selection were centos. All the poems but the last one made quite an emotional impact. Forgive me if I go on longer than usual to try to "unwrap" the how.
Blessing of Boats: It is comforting to read these gentle, encouraging words. Indeed, the metaphor of understanding like the "lip" of the tide captures the nature of life, where the best we can do is stand on the edges, trusting indeed, the coming and goings like the tide be balanced.
She repeats May four times: first, referring to the tide, and then "May you" extends beyond the boats to each of us, with the 3rd time written after a space on the 9th line, cushioned with a line break. The 4th time, in perhaps the longest line propelling to innocence like a baby boat on a maiden journey, which after the line break lands on the final line.
Associations: Biloxi, and the blessing of shrimp boats; Bob Dylan, Forever Young;
Her images of tide, wind, water, waving are filled with motion, coming/going. I connect the tide/entering even now/ the lip of our understanding, the yin/yang of possibility of "this to that"
which she applied to the wind, now facing it, now turning from it. A lip does not guarantee one opens the mouth to swallow something, or keep it shut, but rather, that edge is an awareness of something that will carry us. The prayer emphasizes that it carry you beyond the face of fear.
Then, the action is transferred to a kiss... to the wind, confident it will "love your back". Only then, the third verb, to open your eyes, the 4th action to water. The beautiful ambiguity of "open your eyes to water/water waving forever" gives a sense of tearful goodbyes, never losing connection as if the waving continues to maintain it. Water as verb/noun suggests "wave" in the same way. A perfect blessing to help us face danger, things we cannot control.
The Trouble with Poetry: The opening stanza could be the start of a serious poem, and invites the non-poet-less-than-intrigued-by poetry, to join in a critique of why it is not necessarily a good thing. The quick turn in the second stanza is followed with two outlandish and hilarious images,
which seem indeed to make fun of poets and their output. The third stanza confirms the impossibility of ever putting a stop to such production, and finally in the 4th stanza, we have a hint that the "we" in question just might be students in high school.
Again, another twist, we are introduced to the speaker of the poem, who, contrary to thinking there is a trouble of too much poetry, comes up with a summary of poetry's ability to fill us with joy, sorrow. Another twist, next stanza, and we're back to that urge of writing more poetry and then an unusual and ingenious description of waiting for inspiration.
Oh, but this is Billy Collins at his best... who next tosses in a fragment of an elaboration on the arising desire (while waiting) to steal. Now the door is open for 8 lines using a stolen image (which indeed, comes from The Oracle at Delphiby Lawrence Ferlinghetti) and a confession that now, the speaker is finally honest... The final quatrain refers to Ferlinghetti's iconic poem, Coney Island of the Mind , and you would never guess that the student ever thought poetry could even be in the same room as trouble.
I loved that several people shared memories of a favorite small volume of poetry. Why "unmerry" to describe the thieving band? Perhaps to mask insecurity? be different? critique those unlike the speaker who don't get the fun of poetry.
About plagiarism:
I forgot to include Neil's reference: https://genius.com/Tom-lehrer-lobachevsky-lyrics
Spring: The poet although born in Lynn, MA and attended Mt. Holyoke, has quite a biography as 6th Poet Laureate of South Carolina. (click hyperlink). Her opening stanza is skillfully delightful. The second stanza provides an unexpected associative turn comparing the birds to Chinese peasants released from "the quilted clothes they were sewn into for the long winter".
Judith was reminded of a passage from The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck.
Shifting to a different culture and time amplifies the surprise. The idea of ducking and laughing while flicking picked fleas from the lining of those winter jackets, the communal equality of children being naked, the total cast off of winter as they plunge into icy water adds a surreal sense of joy.
The People of Tao-chu: Although the reference is from a pocket book published in 1919, it refers to a poet in the Tang dynasty (7-10th century) considered the golden age of cosmopolitan culture. Translated by the brilliant translator, Arthur Waley, Judith who selected the poem, pointed out the ground-breaking of his translations, which reflect his poetic heart as well as his breadth and depth of knowledge of the culture. What a wonderful moral lesson this tale reveals,
and quite timely for today. We still have those in power who refuse to see others unlike themselves as human. "One must offer what is there, and not what isn't there", goes beyond the question of slavery and anti-anything-ism regarding people outside of one's own tribe.
Comments included how fortunate it was that the Emperor had a heart; the problem of capriciousness of rulers; the moral lesson is for both common people as well as administrators.
Walking an Old Dog: the first of three centos (Latin, for "patchwork") or patchwork poems quilted from other poets' lines. (The thievery of it mentioned in Billy's poem!) I do not know what poems, or lines Lisa Chavez was reading when she wrote this poem. It would seem she understands and loves an old dog. Perhaps she is referring to her own older age, although, with a cento, it is easy to write in the persona of someone else. We enjoyed the vocabulary... whiffles, the implications of letting go with the piñon cones/ opening like fists/ dropping their treasure the perspectives/comparisons caterpillar's//circuitous journeys the almost paradoxical ending of shadows, thinning to fade, //(double stanza break)// lengthening (as if strengthening)
The short lines unroll slowly. The final three lines cannot be said quickly. The end is not yet, but one feels a lump in the throat knowing it will come.
lengthening
toward the end
of the day
A lovely adaptation of a human being to a dog. There is not demand for pity for the dog or the master. There is no mention of "love of our time together". It shows the powerful yet simple presence of shared, mindful moments.
How my Father... There is a lot of ambiguity in this poem, perhaps because it is a cento. The poet has a Hispanic name, the title speaks of his father learning English, and the poem is set in a hospital in Japan in 1952. Is Manuel Spanish-American, or is it the father translating the English into Spanish. We could feel the pain, as if the pain of a phantom limb, could feel the fear of a soldier wounded, wondering if his legs would walk again. The line that struck my heart was the final one. He didn't have words in English yet. Indeed, even if he had the English, how does one express the horror of war, the pain of being wounded, the difficulty of being in a foreign land,
the fear in the dream of losing your native tongue as well as your legs? The description of English stuck in his mouth, stumbling past his teeth is a poignant and powerful way of describing learning a language.
Rules for Flying: There are some lines that relate to the title as in, flying on an airplane.
For those from the South, Bless your Heart is a polite way to disdainfully brush someone off.
We thought the first mention of it to the flight attendant a northern version, meant in all sincerity.
Then again, maybe not, if you only think what it really means when facing TSA and customs agents. Quite a different poem addressing loss of control than the first one!
For sure, it invited quite a few stories about flying.
Chavez has written a cento (from the Latin, "patchwork") provided as example by the review, Zingara for their prompt for writing a poem each day in the month of April. This collage poem poetic form composed entirely of lines from poems by other poets. The collage poem may use full or partial lines, but should include more than just a couple of words from each line. It allows for look for unexpected connections, interesting contrasts, associative leaps, and surprising juxtapositions.
other example Zingara provided: https://zingarapoet.net/2018/01/24/the-mystery-house-by-jim-eilers/
another example of a Cento: https://zingarapoet.net/2011/04/13/lisas-poetry-picks-how-my-father-learned-english-by-juan-j-morales/ and the poem after: https://zingarapoet.net/2016/03/16/rules-for-flying-by-allyson-whipple/
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