Topic 3 of 53: What poetry I am reading right now
Wed, Nov 27, 1996 (08:39) |
Paul Terry Walhus (terry)
What poetry are you reading right now. Comment.
20 responses total.
Topic 3 of 53 [poetry]: What poetry I am reading right now
Response 1 of 20: Grace (Grace) * Thu, Jan 30, 1997 (12:54) * 27 lines
Cheryl (of 'Ooooh Baby,Ooooh Baby' fame in the Austen conference), you expressed an interest in the poems of Robert Herrick so I will leave this one as a little gift. You must, dear friend, let me know if it rates one or more 'oooh babys'!!
The Vine
I dreamed this mortal part of mine
Was metamorphosed to a vine,
Which, crawling one and every way,
Enthralled my dainty Lucia.
Methought, her long small legs and thighs
I with my tendrils did surprise:
Her belley, buttocks, and her waist
By my soft nervelets were embraced
About her head I writhing hung
And with rich clusters (hid among
The leaves) her temples I behung,
So that my Lucia seemed to me
Young Bacchus ravished by his tree.
My curls about her neck did crawl,
And arms and hands they did enthrall,
So that she could not freely stir
(All parts there made one prisoner).
But when I crept with leaves to hide
Those parts which maids keep unespied,
Such fleeting pleasures there I took
That with the fancy I awoke,
And found (ah me!)this flesh of mine
More like a stock than like a vine.
Topic 3 of 53 [poetry]: What poetry I am reading right now
Response 2 of 20: Cheryl Sneed (Cheryl) * Fri, Jan 31, 1997 (03:15) * 1 lines
LOL Grace! Boy those Renaissance poets were a lusty lot! I rate this one three Ooh baby's! ;-)
Topic 3 of 53 [poetry]: What poetry I am reading right now
Response 3 of 20: aubrey (aubrey) * Fri, Apr 18, 1997 (09:46) * 3 lines
I have a really sad computer so I can't split the lines where they should; I'll just slash away. BETWEEN ANGELS Between angels, on this earth/absurdly between angels, I/try to navigate//in the bluesy middle ground/of desire and withdrawal,/in the industrial air,/among the bittersweet//efforts of people to connect,/make sense, endure./The angels out there,/what are they?//Old helpers, half-believed,/or dazzling better selves,/imagined./that I turn away from/as if I preferred/all the ordinary, dispirit
ng/tasks at hand?//I shop in the cold/neon aisles/thinking of pleasure,/I kiss my paycheck//a mournful kiss goodbye/thinking of pleasure,/in the evening replenish//my drink, make a choice/to read or love or watch,/and increasingly I watch./I do not/ mind living//like this. I cannot bear/living like this./Oh, everything's true/at different times//in the capacious day,/just as I don't forget/and always forget//half the people in the world/are dispossesd./Here chestnut oaks/and tenements//make their unequal
claims./Someone thinks of betrayal./A child spills her milk./I'm on my knees cleaning it up-//sponge, squeeze, I change nothing,/just move it around./The inconsequential floor /is beginning to shine.
Topic 3 of 53 [poetry]: What poetry I am reading right now
Response 4 of 20: ouch! (aubrey) * Fri, Apr 18, 1997 (09:48) * 1 lines
That was a lot longer than it looks on my page! It's by Stephen Dunn. I know angels have been done to death (!) but I just connect with the old helpers half-believed or dazzling better selves imagined---see Wings of Desire. I'll pick shorter poems and a better computer in future.
Topic 3 of 53 [poetry]: What poetry I am reading right now
Response 5 of 20: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Sat, Apr 19, 1997 (01:56) * 1 lines
Cool.
Topic 3 of 53 [poetry]: What poetry I am reading right now
Response 6 of 20: hmmmm (aubrey) * Mon, Apr 21, 1997 (14:31) * 1 lines
You know, terry, you are an enigmatic little fellow...one never knows whether cool refers to the fine if stilted poetry splashed about, or the idea of picking shorter poems. Keep up the fine obfuscation!
Topic 3 of 53 [poetry]: What poetry I am reading right now
Response 7 of 20: heh heh heh (aubrey) * Mon, Apr 21, 1997 (14:31) * 1 lines
And your response MUST be: "fine"
Topic 3 of 53 [poetry]: What poetry I am reading right now
Response 8 of 20: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Wed, Apr 23, 1997 (00:30) * 1 lines
OK. Fine.
Topic 3 of 53 [poetry]: What poetry I am reading right now
Response 9 of 20: carmen hermosillo (hummie) * Fri, Jun 20, 1997 (17:22) * 6 lines
louise gluck
federico garcia lorca
rafael jimenez
adolfo becquer
robert desnos
Topic 3 of 53 [poetry]: What poetry I am reading right now
Response 10 of 20: nick a'hannay (pmnh) * Wed, Jan 28, 1998 (16:52) * 21 lines
reading tennyson today (and wordsworth last night... i MUST be
getting musty, 'cause i couldn't stand these guys not so very
long ago)...
anyway, this is tennyson's "crossing the bar", which i find
unutterably beautiful (so i shant, uh, utter more about it):
Sunset and evening star,
and one clear call for me.
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
when I put out to sea,
but such tide as moving seems asleep,
too full for sound and foam,
when that which drew from out the boundless deep
turns home again.
Twilight and evening bell,
and after that the dark.
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
when I embark;
for though from out our bourne of Time and Place
the tide may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
when I have crossed the bar.
Topic 3 of 53 [poetry]: What poetry I am reading right now
Response 11 of 20: nick a'hannay (pmnh) * Thu, Jan 29, 1998 (22:34) * 10 lines
wordsworth...
"a slumber did my spirit seal;
i had no human fears:
she seemed a thing that could not feel
the touch of earthly years.
no motion has she now, no force;
she neither hears nor sees;
wrapped 'round in earth's diurnal course,
with rocks, and stones, and trees..."
Topic 3 of 53 [poetry]: What poetry I am reading right now
Response 12 of 20: Wolf (Wolf) * Thu, Jan 29, 1998 (22:36) * 1 lines
speaking of reading poetry-where did you post that bit yesterday?
Topic 3 of 53 [poetry]: What poetry I am reading right now
Response 13 of 20: nick a'hannay (pmnh) * Thu, Jan 29, 1998 (22:39) * 2 lines
what?
(the tennyson?)
Topic 3 of 53 [poetry]: What poetry I am reading right now
Response 14 of 20: Wolf (Wolf) * Thu, Jan 29, 1998 (22:40) * 1 lines
yes, yes....where did you put it?
Topic 3 of 53 [poetry]: What poetry I am reading right now
Response 15 of 20: nick a'hannay (pmnh) * Thu, Jan 29, 1998 (22:43) * 2 lines
uhhhh... yer sitting on it
(here...resp.#10, i think...)
Topic 3 of 53 [poetry]: What poetry I am reading right now
Response 16 of 20: Wolf (Wolf) * Thu, Jan 29, 1998 (22:47) * 1 lines
*blush*
Topic 3 of 53 [poetry]: What poetry I am reading right now
Response 17 of 20: Wolf (Wolf) * Thu, Jan 29, 1998 (22:48) * 1 lines
ahh, yes.
Topic 3 of 53 [poetry]: What poetry I am reading right now
Response 18 of 20: nick a'hannay (pmnh) * Thu, Jan 29, 1998 (22:52) * 1 lines
yup
Topic 3 of 53 [poetry]: What poetry I am reading right now
Response 19 of 20: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Feb 27, 2001 (14:51) * 24 lines
Iwo Jima Anniversary is just past but I was not aware of this till now. To honor all who had made the ultimate sacrifice:
Soldier, Ask Not
by Gordon R. Dickson (1923 ), published 1965
Soldier, ask not - now, or ever,
Where to war your banners go.
Anarch's legions all surround us.
Strike - and do not count the blow!
Glory, honor, praise and profit,
Are but toys of tinsel worth.
Render up your work, unasking,
Leave the human clay to earth.
Blood and sorrow, pain unending,
Are the portion of us all.
Grasp the naked sword, opposing,
Gladly in the battle fall.
So shall we, anointed soldiers,
Stand at last before the Throne,
Baptized in our wounds, red-flowing,
Sealed unto our Lord - alone!
Topic 3 of 53 [poetry]: What poetry I am reading right now
Response 20 of 20: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Sun, Jan 5, 2003 (09:08) * 76 lines
Topic 3 of 51: 'What poetry I am reading right now'
Resp 20 of 20: Mary Murphy (Brown32) Fri, Jan 3, 2003 (19:30) 70 lines
Poem: "Any prince to any princess," by Adrian Henri from The Loveless
Motel (Jonathan Cape).
August is coming
and the goose, I'm afraid,
is getting fat.
There have been
no golden eggs for some months now.
Straw has fallen well below market price
despite my frantic spinning
and the sedge is,
as you rightly point out,
withered.
I can't imagine how the pea
got under your mattress. I apologize
humbly. The chambermaid has, of course,
been sacked. As has the frog footman.
I understand that, during my recent fact-finding tour of the
Golden River,
despite your nightly unavailing efforts,
he remained obstinately
froggish.
I hope that the Three Wishes granted by the General
Assembly
will go some way towards redressing
this unfortunate recent sequence of events.
The fall in output from the shoe-factory, for example:
no one could have foreseen the work-to-rule
by the National Union of Elves. Not to mention the fact
that the court has been fast asleep
for the last six and a half years.
The matter of the poisoned apple has been taken up
by the Board of Trade: I think I can assure you
the incident will not be
repeated.
I can quite understand, in the circumstances,
your reluctance to let down
your golden tresses. However
I feel I must point out
that the weather isn't getting any better
and I already have a nasty chill
from waiting at the base
of the White Tower. You must see
the absurdity of the
situation.
Some of the courtiers are beginning to talk,
not to mention the humble villagers.
It's been three weeks now, and not even
a word.
Princess,
a cold, black wind
howls through our empty palace.
Dead leaves litter the bedchamber;
the mirror on the wall hasn't said a thing
since you left. I can only ask,
bearing all this in mind,
that you think again,
let down your hair,
reconsider.
This poem is from The Writer's Almanac, a daily program of poetry and
history hosted by Garrison Keillor
http://almanac.mpr.org/
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