On the Passing of WS Merwin/3 Ed Coletti Poems/Oliver Sacks "The Machine Stops/A Poem For Joyce/

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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