My Gift From WS Merwin
I pretty much stopped using punctuation in my poetry 3-5 years ago. Although I had a complete rationale for this (but I won’t bore you with it here) I wondered if I could move forward in this manner. Then I discovered that Merwin had done the same, and the method to my madness felt validated. I felt vindicated and did not turn back. I am so grateful to this magnificent man for this gift!
Larry Robinson sent me this quote from Merwin who had developed
“ a growing sense that punctuation alluded to an assumed allegiance to the rational protocol of written language.”
Additionally and no less importantly, Merwin kept the reality of death in the forefront of much of his work. He was not morbid nor am I. We are conscious. I feel the passing of a brother. I feel like I know him. I wish that I had met him and chatted.
For the Anniversary of My Death
By W. S. Merwin
Every year without knowing it I have passed the day
When the last fires will wave to me
And the silence will set out
Tireless traveler
Like the beam of a lightless star
Then I will no longer
Find myself in life as in a strange garment
Surprised at the earth
And the love of one woman
And the shamelessness of men
As today writing after three days of rain
Hearing the wren sing and the falling cease
And bowing not knowing to what
W. S. Merwin, “For the Anniversary of My Death” from The Second Four Books of Poems
(Port Townsend, Washington: Copper Canyon Press, 1993). Copyright ©
1993 by W. S. Merwin. Reprinted with the permission of The Wylie Agency,
Inc.
Source:
The Second Four Books of Poems
(Copper Canyon Press, 1993)
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Three Short Ed Coletti Poems
Mosel
meandering
feminine
curvy
German
tributary
türmhaus
sunglow
pincushion
emerald
Riesling
wineyard
ticklish
axillary
mountain
perch
(will be in X-Peri June 2019)
donut
Honor
thy error as a hidden intention.
-Peter
Schmidt and Brian Eno
perrrfect cirrrcle?
shit! can’t even do that
but that new tangent
umbilicus to something other
what I knew forgotten
whatever forced my hand
to create what I knew not
know not
do
not
donut!
cloister
here’s my
profession
a bounteous
morning
split rail fence
black hooded
junco
perched
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Oliver Sacks The Machine Stops (The neurologist on steam engines, smartphones, and fearing the future)
I believe that the author's operative principle here is "fear." As much as Sacks writes well and seductively to us old timers, how are we to know what we think we know is the truth going forward. Do you remember the musical "Bye Bye Birdie" and its main song lyric that went "Kids, what's the matter with kids today?...Why can't they be like we were, perfect in every way! Oh, what's the matter with kids today!" In reality, we know a lot less than we think we know. And inexorably onward goes our aging process along with present and future conceptual evolution.
Please let us know what you think about the following short New Yorker piece.
Oliver Sacks New Yorker Article
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Triolet From A Line By Eric Clapton
A Poem For Joyce by Ed Coletti in Apollo Blue's Harp And The Gods Of Song (2019)
My darling you
look wonderful tonight.
Your short silver
hair, shining opal eyes,
When I see you
smiling everything feels right.
My darling you
look wonderful tonight.
Thought of your
passing’s a terrible fright,
Loss of part of
me, joy and wisdom dies.
My darling you
look wonderful tonight.
Your short silver
hair, shining opal eyes.
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Comment or Read Comments Here on any of the above or below. If you do not have a Google account, then log in by checking "Name/URL," (it's easy). Just the name (don't worry about the URL). Actual name is best, but use what you like. Or email me at edjcoletti(AT)gmail.com, and I can post it.
