Poems and Fish
Sunday's emailed The Writer's Almanac was so arresting, I can't believe I didn't have to pay for it!
. . . . It contained e.e. cummings' poem "since feeling is first" and my first feeling was to blow by it and read the historical information . . . and I did. Happy 19th Amendment Passage Day, especially to all women who vote.
. . . . And then I returned to e.e. whom I've always kept at my intellectual arms' lengths since the nuance he invented was the practice of never using upper case letters like other famous poets did at the time. Until I looked close at "since feeling'" I could not have sworn that he used college-standard punctuation. but i'm not one to be influenced by trendy fads
. . . . When I returned to this poem, I decided that here was a poem I would memorize soon, and if I never share it with another strangersoul, I will share it with a friend or two. When I read, "Reprinted with permission." I sighed because I knew I could not share the words with you here. Then I entered the title into Google, and at the top of the list was a link to the poem. You can find the text by visiting http://www/cs/berkeley/edu~richie/poetry/html/poem162.html and discovering . . . and PRINTING this wonderful poem for yourself.
. . . . Or not. I probably too often talk about the joylessness of most poetry readings. And when I'm not whining about that, I'm probably too often joylessly bemoaning the passionlessness of poetry. In this poem by e.e. c are both that hit me like the concluding five minutes of the NBC TV show Saint Elsewhere used to hit me. And that's why I'm going to memorize this wonderful poem; because having it that deeply into me will improve my disposition and froggy countenance simply by having atoms of that poem's words subtlely transfiguring me.
. . . . I was going to memorize "The Lost House" by David Mason, and I still may. It's another keeper that nourishes me every time I read it. My print of that poem -- from The Writer's Almanac, of course -- is still here in the office, sitting on my lap as I write this, and within arms' reach since May 26 when I discovered it.
. . . . But you know, you can be a successful fisherman, even though you don't keep every fish you lift out of the water and into the asphyxiating air. Some fish are not worth the trouble of reeling in, but how else can you disengage the hook, look them over and throw them back? Disengaging the hook is essential, and to do that you have to look at the fish.
. . . . That's why reading poems is essential for hummin' beans who presume to write them. I'm going simple and arbitrary in saying this, but if you call yourself a poet and can't tell me at least three poets you generally enjoy and three you generally don't enjoy, you aren't reading enough. I usually avoid poems when I'm not up to the obligation of being challenged by fresh writing. But when I approach the plate, and I want to play ball, and I'm game, there aren't many things I can do with my eyes that net me more satisfaction. Kevin Stein said it best: you don't have to like every poem you read (I've said it before I heard him say it at Iles School in 2005, but since he said it, I feel better about saying it my own dang self.) but the pursuit of nourishing poems is a worth enterprise for good people who like words. If YOU'RE that kind of person, visit that link I posted to my new favorite e.e. poem, aye?
. . . . It contained e.e. cummings' poem "since feeling is first" and my first feeling was to blow by it and read the historical information . . . and I did. Happy 19th Amendment Passage Day, especially to all women who vote.
. . . . And then I returned to e.e. whom I've always kept at my intellectual arms' lengths since the nuance he invented was the practice of never using upper case letters like other famous poets did at the time. Until I looked close at "since feeling'" I could not have sworn that he used college-standard punctuation. but i'm not one to be influenced by trendy fads
. . . . When I returned to this poem, I decided that here was a poem I would memorize soon, and if I never share it with another strangersoul, I will share it with a friend or two. When I read, "Reprinted with permission." I sighed because I knew I could not share the words with you here. Then I entered the title into Google, and at the top of the list was a link to the poem. You can find the text by visiting http://www/cs/berkeley/edu~richie/poetry/html/poem162.html and discovering . . . and PRINTING this wonderful poem for yourself.
. . . . Or not. I probably too often talk about the joylessness of most poetry readings. And when I'm not whining about that, I'm probably too often joylessly bemoaning the passionlessness of poetry. In this poem by e.e. c are both that hit me like the concluding five minutes of the NBC TV show Saint Elsewhere used to hit me. And that's why I'm going to memorize this wonderful poem; because having it that deeply into me will improve my disposition and froggy countenance simply by having atoms of that poem's words subtlely transfiguring me.
. . . . I was going to memorize "The Lost House" by David Mason, and I still may. It's another keeper that nourishes me every time I read it. My print of that poem -- from The Writer's Almanac, of course -- is still here in the office, sitting on my lap as I write this, and within arms' reach since May 26 when I discovered it.
. . . . But you know, you can be a successful fisherman, even though you don't keep every fish you lift out of the water and into the asphyxiating air. Some fish are not worth the trouble of reeling in, but how else can you disengage the hook, look them over and throw them back? Disengaging the hook is essential, and to do that you have to look at the fish.
. . . . That's why reading poems is essential for hummin' beans who presume to write them. I'm going simple and arbitrary in saying this, but if you call yourself a poet and can't tell me at least three poets you generally enjoy and three you generally don't enjoy, you aren't reading enough. I usually avoid poems when I'm not up to the obligation of being challenged by fresh writing. But when I approach the plate, and I want to play ball, and I'm game, there aren't many things I can do with my eyes that net me more satisfaction. Kevin Stein said it best: you don't have to like every poem you read (I've said it before I heard him say it at Iles School in 2005, but since he said it, I feel better about saying it my own dang self.) but the pursuit of nourishing poems is a worth enterprise for good people who like words. If YOU'RE that kind of person, visit that link I posted to my new favorite e.e. poem, aye?
posted by Job Conger | 11:19 AM
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