THERE GOES THAT LITTLE MUTT
FROM DOWN THE STREET
and the man, his owner,
walking together in the cold
December darkness:
love takes you
where you need to go,
no exceptions.
dougwestendorp.com |
|
I picked up the new Jim Moore book the other day, Invisible Strings. Beautiful. Many poems read like "journal poems," small observations, unique to the day.
THERE GOES THAT LITTLE MUTT FROM DOWN THE STREET and the man, his owner, walking together in the cold December darkness: love takes you where you need to go, no exceptions.
0 Comments
Don't let the sorrow of the world bite your soul.
(Translation by Robert Bly) If you are the light of the world And I am the light of the world The earth must soon be afire This world will burn with light I've always said, Poetry doesn't scan well. Like my favorite visual art, poems cannot usually be taken in at a glance. They are richer than that, deeper, and they demand careful attention. Though they may appear to be simple, a glance gives you almost nothing. The work needs to be contemplated.
I came across this quote today, from Molly McQuade's Stealing Glimpses: "Poetry is slow. Poetry forces you to slow down how you breathe, how you think..." -- Michael Wiegers, managing editor of Copper Canyon Press. Incidentally, I've never been disappointed in a Copper Canyon book. Founded by Sam Hamill, one of my favorite poets, they have published W.S. Merwin, JIm Harrison, Kenneth Rexroth, Arthur Sze, among others. They have also produced various volumes of translations from the Chinese, including Hamill's own. TWO CATS
one cat sees what the other cat knows one cat reaps what the other cat sows Poetry is the sleepy weed
The dumb, the sick, and the dizzy need. E.B. White Poetry is partly the craft of fashioning invisible transitions from thing to thing and thought to thought. Molly McQuade Poetry is the place where language in its silence is most beautifully articulated. Poetry is the language of silence.
-- John O'Donohue, Anam Cara |
Doug WestendorpI have written some poetry, and translated a few short poems from the ancient Chinese. Archives
May 2023
Categories |