Posted by paula on July 24, 2001, at 14:00:24
In reply to Re: favorite poets?, posted by Adam on July 23, 2001, at 20:52:57
Wow, Adam, I *love* that! Such music! I think it's not uncommon for artists to prefer their own work. If you didn't believe in what you're doing, if you didn't think something wastn't being said that needed saying, then you woudn't write. Right?
Thanks again, really enjoyed it,
Paula
>
> I almost have to catch myself when I say this, but it's true: My favorite poet is myself. Not because I'm deep, or talented, or for any other reason, except that I know what my poems mean. I don't often get the sense I understand the poetry of others. Once in a while I "experience" a poem, if you will, and it moves me greatly. Mostly this is done off the written page. I should read more poetry. I might learn to understand better with time.
>
> Since, for the time being, I am my own favorite, I will share another of mine, something forgotten I had dug up recently in a time of self-doubt, I guess to review the emotions I had had back then, and reconnect with them in some way. I thought it might be informative.
>
> Secret
>
> You can't see or hear or
> Touch the truth
> To know its gravity
> And its solid contours
> With just your suspicions
> That the wideness of my eyes
> Or the overlong pauses
> Mean anything more than I am
> Pondering a stain on my shirt
> Or a missed payment
> Or any of a million things
> I could conjure in a moment
> Of mundane subterfuge
> How could you know
> You feel the doubt
> The once supple embrace
> Rather stiffens
> So slightly as to be just
> The spasm of a draft
> Through the bedroom window
> Or a spider on the sheets
>
> A query direct is mindlessly repeated
> To fill a brief span
> That is needed to replace
> The erstwhile validity
> Of my mere expressions and replies
> Repeated with deft irritation
> For you no more than a blank reflection
> To see
> You can't quite smell or taste
> The cancer, the thing so terrible
> Decency demands it never see
> The stark light of your honest eyes
> And your admiration
> The sun that warmed me
> Now burns me whenever you draw near
> Withers the heart it touches
> With disgrace
>
> You and I, together
> We are of two minds
> Two thoughts, two futures
> And a third way, to bear, unaided
> The undone, the unspoken
> The unrequitted
> The real
>
>
> > Hi All,
> >
> > Who are your favorite current poets? I've spent most of my time lately reading medieval and renaissance poetry, so I'm curious about some more, uh, modern folks. Off the top of my head, I'd nominate Amy Lowell and James Agee. Admittedly, neither even comes close to being "current." I love the visual quality of Lowell's work. I've only read Agee's _A Death in the Family_. Composer Samuel Barber used parts of the Preface--which is prosodic poetry, really--as the text for his work "Knoxville: Summer of 1915." (Just to connect this back up with depression, "Knoxville" is a richly, beautifully nostalgic piece, but the end has always had a certain resonance for me on the existential front. Anyone know this work?)
> >
> > Anna Laura, I'm especially curious about current Italian poets. Any favorites? I need to expand my repetoire beyond the '500. :)
> >
> >
> > Procrastinating constructively....
> > Paula
poster:paula
thread:7677
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20010717/msgs/7874.html