Last night there was a poetry reading in the city: S.W. Merwin and Adrienne Rich. I couldn't make it, but to honor the event, here's a poem by Merwin and the beginning of one by Rich (with a link to the full poem). I'll be on the road all afternoon and probably until midnight, on my way south again with one daughter to pick up the other at Grandma's. This means the time to post is now!
Term
At the last minute a word is waiting
not heard that way before and not to be
repeated or ever be remembered
one that always had been a household word
used in speaking of the ordinary
everyday recurrences of living
not newly chosen or long considered
or a matter for comment afterward
who would ever have thought it was the one
saying itself from the beginning through
all its uses and circumstances to
utter at last that meaning of its own
for which it had long been the only word
though it seems now that any word would do
W.S. Merwin
Stepping Backward
Good-by to you whom I shall see tomorrow,
Next year and when I'm fifty; still good-by.
This is the leave we never really take.
If you were dead or gone to live in China
The event might draw your stature in my mind.
I should be forced to look upon you whole
The way we look upon the things we lose.
We see each other daily and in segments;
Parting might make us meet anew, entire.
... (Adrienne Rich. Read the rest of the poem here.)
No comments:
Post a Comment