hovers...

Paul Celan

Fadensonnen

[Celan reads his work.]





Fadensonnen
über der grauschwarzen Ödnis.
Ein baum-
hoher Gedanke
greift sich den Lichtton: es sind
noch Lieder zu singen jenseits
der Menschen.


~


Thread suns
above the grey-black wilderness.
A tree-
high thought
tunes in to light’s pitch: there are
still songs to be sung on the other side
of mankind.

            (Trans. Michael Hamburger)


Threadsuns
over the gray-black wasteness
A tree-
high thought
strikes the light-tone: there are
still songs to sing beyond
humankind.

            (Trans. John Felstiner)

*

I post both translations because of the variation, at least for me, in tone between the sets of closing lines.

Sometimes, what we want or what we hope for cannot – will not – break away from where we are – from what we are – in all this living. I’m fairly certain that the poem eludes both translations.

first exactly and first exactly...

Gertrude Stein

If I Told Him: A Completed Potrait of Picasso


[It seemed timely when I read it today. A stunning piece - not really built for blog - or maybe it's the other way round - at any rate, I couldn't resist.]

Here’s a link to ODEO to hear Stein read her poem

... and on You-Tube and You-Tube and on and presently it will play you so will play presently will and on:




If I told him would he like it. Would he like it if I told him.
Would he like it would Napoleon would Napoleon would would he like it.
If Napoleon if I told him if I told him if Napoleon. Would he like it if I told him if I told him if Napoleon. Would he like it if Napoleon if Napoleon if I told him. If I told him if Napoleon if Napoleon if I told him. If I told him would he like it would he like it if I told him.
Now.
Not now.
And now.
Now.
Exactly as as kings.
Feeling full for it.
Exactitude as kings.
So to beseech you as full as for it.
Exactly or as kings.
Shutters shut and open so do queens. Shutters shut and shutters and so shutters shut and shutters and so and so shutters and so shutters shut and so shutters shut and shutters and so. And so shutters shut and so and also. And also and so and so and also.
Exact resemblance. To exact resemblance the exact resemblance as exact as a resemblance, exactly as resembling, exactly resembling, exactly in resemblance exactly a resemblance, exactly and resemblance. For this is so. Because.
Now actively repeat at all, now actively repeat at all, now actively repeat
at all.
Have hold and hear, actively repeat at all.
I judge judge.
As a resemblance to him.
Who comes first. Napoleon the first.
Who comes too coming coming too, who goes there, as they go they share, who
shares all, all is as all as as yet or as yet.
Now to date now to date. Now and now and date and the date.
Who came first. Napoleon at first. Who came first Napoleon the first. Who came first, Napoleon first.
Presently.
Exactly do they do.
First exactly.
Exactly do they do too.
First exactly.
And first exactly.
Exactly do they do.
And first exactly and exactly.
And do they do.
At first exactly and first exactly and do they do.
The first exactly.
And do they do.
The first exactly.
At first exactly.
First as exactly.
As first as exactly.
Presently
As presently.
As as presently.
He he he he and he and he and and he and he and he and and as and as he and as he and he. He is and as he is, and as he is and he is, he is and as he and he and as he is and he and he and and he and he.
Can curls rob can curls quote, quotable.
As presently.
As exactitude.
As trains
Has trains.
Has trains.
As trains.
As trains.
Presently.
Proportions.
Presently.
As proportions as presently.
Father and farther.
Was the king or room.
Farther and whether.
Was there was there was there what was there was there what was there was there there was there.
Whether and in there.
As even say so.
One.
I land.
Two.
I land.
Three.
The land.
Three
The land.
Three
The land.
Two
I land.
Two
I land.
One
I land.
Two
I land.
As a so.
They cannot.
A note.
They cannot.
A float.
They cannot.
They dote.
They cannot.
They as denote.
Miracles play.
Play fairly.
Play fairly well.
A well.
As well.
As or as presently.
Let me recite what history teaches. History teaches.

*

Stein’s writing here is such a sophisticated play with language and idea. This work may be the most enjoyable oral read of a poem I’ve ever had. The sounds carry knots of possibility.

In terms of theme, our notions of greatness and the cost of art are also questioned, put to the test. The closing is tremendous and perfect. Given all the cycles and opportunities offered the world, we do not learn. The only thing that history teaches is that history teaches. Oh yes.

a tree breathing through its spectacles...

Frank O’Hara

Having a Coke with You

and the fact that you move so beautifully more or less takes care of Futurism
just as at home I never think of the Nude Descending a Staircase or
at a rehearsal a single drawing of Leonardo or Michelangelo that used to wow me
and what good does all the research of the Impressionists do them
when they never got the right person to stand near the tree when the sun sank

*

O’Hara, a genius with detail, at the top of his form, pulls the reader into an absolutely personal moment that could not be more real. And this piece is exemplary in showcasing the range of his skills. There’s an utter ease with the language. Most importantly, the reader, never doubting the poetry or the poet, is at home in this work.

don't forget the worm of shame...

Kim Addonizio

Lush Life



... powerful tone piece of imagery, detailed and real.

something else is slipping away...

Forgetfulness

Billy Collins

No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.

the last bright routes, survivor...

from my anthology of must read (a)merican poems

Anne Sexton

Her Kind


I have gone out, a possessed witch,
haunting the black air, braver at night;
dreaming evil, I have done my hitch
over the plain houses, light by light:
lonely thing, twelve-fingered, out of mind.
A woman like that is not a woman, quite.
I have been her kind.

I have found the warm caves in the woods,
filled them with skillets, carvings, shelves,
closets, silks, innumerable goods;
fixed the suppers for the worms and the elves:
whining, rearranging the disaligned.
A woman like that is misunderstood.
I have been her kind.

I have ridden in your cart, driver,
waved my nude arms at villages going by,
learning the last bright routes, survivor
where your flames still bite my thigh
and my ribs crack where your wheels wind.
A woman like that is not ashamed to die.
I have been her kind.






~

an alternate reading...



*

A brilliant declaration of fire-breathing words that rail against conformity ... and need no illumination. They carry their own light.

I can’t escape the brutal honesty in Sexton’s lines – and certainly not the deep anguish in realizing the cost of such truths.