Poetry?

DWill · Freshman Joined: 31 Jan 2008 Posts: 249 Gender:

.Saffron,
Are you saying that you posted a John Donne poem? I didn't see it.
Which one? The Post's Book World had a poetry issue last week, maybe you saw it. One by Mary Oliver was printed, "Self-Portrait."

I wish I was twenty and in love with life
and still full of beans.

Onward, old legs!
There are the long, pale dunes; on the other side
the roses are blooming and finding their labor
no adversity to the spirit

Upward, old legs! There are the roses, and there is the sea
shining like a song, like a body
I want to touch

Though I'm not twenty
and won't be again but ah! seventy! And still
in love with life. And still
full of beans.

Ralphalinos,
I don't guess I've seen all of "The Belle of Amherst," but that's a good idea; I like all these people you mention; do you recall the Simon & Garfunkle song based on "Richard Cory", and no, I haven't heard of "Lana Turner Died Today"--but it gives me an opportunity to test the 'net as a poem search engine. Ah, no, not this time. Do you have a copy?

The Charles Bukowski is a treat, Theomanic. There is a 70-something theme going on here. Last, but of course not least, is the rising star of haiku. Nothing he does surprises me.
DWill

Indigo · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:59 pm Post subject:

Saffron · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 10:25 pm Post subject:

Saffron · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 10:38 pm Post subject:

Ta dum! Here it is the first 6 lines:

To Hold

So we're dust. In the meantime, my wife and I

make the bed. Holding opposite edges of the sheet,

we raise it, billowing, then pull it tight,

measuring by eye as it falls into alignment

between us. We tug, fold, tuck. And if I'm lucky,

she'll remember a recent dream and tell me.

-- Li-Young Lee from "Behind My Eyes"

ralphinlaos · Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 3:51 am Post subject:

DWill - I think many of us can relate to Ms, Oliver's "Self-Portrait." And those who can't now, someday will. A lovely poem.

No, I never knew about Simon and Garfunkle's "Richard Cory." But it sounds like the sort of thing they did so well; I'd love to hear it.

I thought I had a copy of "Lana Turner Died Today" but I can't find it. But I will and I'll post it here then.

Saffron, that poem you cite by Li-Young Lee is very moving. It's always the simplest of things which affect us most, don't you think?

Here's one of my all-time favorites by Yeats:

Had I the heaven's embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet.
But I, being poor, have only my dreams.
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

How about that? You don't even have to enjoy poetry to appreciate Mr. Yeat's writing.

And Emily Dickinson's "I'm N
obody. Who are you?" And Ferlinghetti's "The World is a Beautiful Place." Next time.

Ralph
(Way past twenty but still in love with life and still full of beans)

Saffron · Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 4:58 am Post subject:

Is this the Lana Turner poem?

Poem (Lana Turner has collapsed!)
by Frank O'Hara

Lana Turner has collapsed!
I was trotting along and suddenly
it started raining and snowing
and you said it was hailing
but hailing hits you on the head
hard so it was really snowing and
raining and I was in such a hurry
to meet you but the traffic
was acting exactly like the sky
and suddenly I see a headline
LANA TURNER HAS COLLAPSED!
there is no snow in Hollywood
there is no rain in California
I have been to lots of parties
and acted perfectly disgraceful
but I never actually collapsed
oh Lana Turner we love you get up

Saffron

ralphinlaos · Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 5:17 am Post subject:

Yes, Saffron, that's the one; I sure had the title wrong, didn't I? I was positive it was "Lana Turner Died Today;" I still can't remember it being "collapsed."

I guess, as President Camacho says, I should Google before I post. No wonder DWill couldn't find it on the internet.

Now Margaret Mead - that was a life fully lived, wasn't it?

Ralph

Saffron · Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 6:36 am Post subject:

Saffron · Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 7:01 am Post subject:

And what of H. D. Thoreau, DWill? Have any favorites?

I like this:

My Life Has Been the Poem

My life has been the poem I would have writ,
But I could not both live and utter it.

Saffron

DWill · Freshman Joined: 31 Jan 2008 Posts: 249 Gender:

Wow, this is humming! Indigo, I most certainly was NOT making fun of you! Could it be, though, that 20-year-olds don't go around saying someone is full of beans, and therefore you didn't know that was a good thing?

I think Book World did some good selecting there, don't you Saffron? I continue to be impressed by your ingenuity. Of course you would be able to find the Lana Turner poem, and wasn't it something? I was going to bring up the interesting contrast from the first group of postings, modern vs. the traditional verse forms. It appeared that Ralph and I (both of an age) tended toward the traditional, whereas you, Theomanic, and I'm sure Indigo, might pull from the moderns. I realize that we probably all can go both ways.

But since I've always liked to memorize, the Romantic poets and their descendents have appealed to me. Generally, rhymes make learning the poems easier. But also I find that the pre-moderns shoot for the Big Effects, not just in the sound, but in the meanings. I guess I like the slight melodrama of those poems, and the fact that the meaning is usually close to the surface helps me out. The modern poets go for smaller effects, but I don't mean that disaparagingly. They've quit trying to expose general truths in terms of morals or philosophy, are subjective and idiosyncratic, are generally not self-dramatizing even though they speak often about themselves. (Yeats, whom I love, is one I think of as a master self-dramatizer.) This is a very broad, general assessment, I realize.

I like that early Yeats poem, too, Ralph; it's great. I like a number from that period.
"Brown Penny" is a good one for memory.

I whispered, "I am too young."
And then, "I am old enough";
Wherefore I threw a penny
To find out if I might love.
"Go and love, go and love, young man,
If the lady be young and fair."
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny
I am looped in the loops of her hair.

O love is the crooked thing,
There is nobody wise enough
To find out all that is in it,
For he would be thinking of love
Till the stars had run away
And the shadows eaten the moon.
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
One cannot begin it too soon.

"The Stolen Child," "When You are Old," "Who Goes with Fergus," "The Two Trees," "The Song of the Wandering Aengus" (set to music by Judy Collins and very beautiful), and "The Man Who Dreamed of Faeryland"--these are others he published before 1900 that I like a lot. He was a Pre-Raphaelite during this time, not the grander poet he was to become.

Right now, I'm supposed to be studying for a certification exam, and the material is unbelievably boring, as far away from poetry as it is possible to get. So this discussion has been like a tonic, the best distraction. Thanks!
DWill


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