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Thank you for sharing the link to "Pipistrelle" read by Mark Doty, Saffron!
There were so many wonderful lines that I was tempted to import back to this site for use in other contexts: "Is it because I am American that I think the bat came to address me?"; or his characterization of Charles' calling the bat's cry "navigational" to be "a modest, rational understanding." So much of what is posted at booktalk strikes me as happening at the level of "a modest, rational understanding." Personally I feel so much more affinity with the side Mark Doty seems to occupy in contrast to Charles, the other poet in the poem -- that of "the tale," although I don't want it to be opposed to or exclude "the lyric," either.
What I love is that reach of the experience into the imagination the poem takes to include other characters and their speech inside of a fantasy only the poet can hear, moving in the course of the poem from, overhearing "the night's one-sided conversation," to the concluding line where the poet lets the night have the last word, as only the poet "hears" it: "'A word in your ear,' says the night." Oooh! I shudder with almost sensual satisfaction at the way he encompasses and presents his inner sense of the voice as the voice of the world itself, heard uniquely from inside of him. That's the kind of thing reading and writing are for.
_________________ "Where can I find a man who has forgotten the words so that I can talk with him?"
-- Chuang-Tzu (c. 200 B.C.E.)
as quoted by Robert A. Burton
Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 2638 Images: 5 Location: Round Hill, VA
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I thought I'd already posted this poem, but I guess not. This is the poem and poet Mark Doty references in his poem Pipistrelle.
Bat
by Charles Bennett
You’d think he was nervous the way
he fits and starts. His skittery dodges,
dipping below the visible, make us wait
for a scratch
on our eye which comes to show
he’s gone again elsewhere.
How does he find his way? you said,
and I saw night close in
like a room
with no escape, I saw darkness
harden at every turn. And then
as he scribbled through the trees
knew I was wrong. He listens
hard to see us here, I said.
But what I meant
to say was how he hears himself
so well he can’t go wrong.
If we are shapes to him
shadows in the dark between trees
he only finds us there because
his music makes us avoidable.
For him the woods
are where his sounds fluoresce,
his seeing ground, and all this dancing
makes the darkness permeable;
this indirection lets the way find him.
Although of course I could be
wrong again—
the pips and squeaks of bats
don’t reach my ears; and who
knows if a one-note song’s enough
to find your way home
in the dark?
But at least I can still perceive
your outline between the trees,
and make my way towards you
calling your name.
_________________ " How we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used." - Wendell Berry, What Are People For?
“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child — our own two eyes. All is a miracle.” -Thich Nhat Hahn
_________________ " How we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used." - Wendell Berry, What Are People For?
“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child — our own two eyes. All is a miracle.” -Thich Nhat Hahn
Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 2638 Images: 5 Location: Round Hill, VA
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Bad news for poetry
In January it was announced the 2010 Dodge Poetry Festival was being canceled due to the economy. Apparently, many people, organizations and towns in NJ came forward with offers to help the festival. The foundation is considering all offers and plans and will announce at the end of the summer if the festival will go on or not. With a bit of luck there will be a 2010 Dodge Poetry Festival -- keep your fingers crossed!
_________________ " How we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used." - Wendell Berry, What Are People For?
“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child — our own two eyes. All is a miracle.” -Thich Nhat Hahn
Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 2638 Images: 5 Location: Round Hill, VA
Thanks: 270 Thanked: 215 times in 172 posts
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Good news for poetry
Saffron wrote:
In January it was announced the 2010 Dodge Poetry Festival was being canceled due to the economy. Apparently, many people, organizations and towns in NJ came forward with offers to help the festival. The foundation is considering all offers and plans and will announce at the end of the summer if the festival will go on or not. With a bit of luck there will be a 2010 Dodge Poetry Festival -- keep your fingers crossed!
The Dodge Foundation just announced the 2010 Dodge Poetry Festival will be held in Newark, NJ. It will be held at an outdoor arts center. Who new Newark and poetry would come together. The dates of the festival have not been announced yet, but they are you can find the info here.
_________________ " How we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used." - Wendell Berry, What Are People For?
“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child — our own two eyes. All is a miracle.” -Thich Nhat Hahn
This is the largest poetry festival in the USA. 2010 will be held in Newark, NJ at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. It is a beautiful outdoor venue. The dates will be announced soon. One more link -- to the NJPAC.
_________________ " How we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used." - Wendell Berry, What Are People For?
“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child — our own two eyes. All is a miracle.” -Thich Nhat Hahn
Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 2638 Images: 5 Location: Round Hill, VA
Thanks: 270 Thanked: 215 times in 172 posts
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Re: poetry festival
Tickets to this years Festival (Dodge Poetry Fest. held this year in Newark, NJ)will be going on sale 4/1/10! Anyone out there planning on attending? How could you not want to visit the wonderful city of Newark?
_________________ " How we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used." - Wendell Berry, What Are People For?
“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child — our own two eyes. All is a miracle.” -Thich Nhat Hahn
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