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| Poetry |
| The Poetry Forum :: Ask us a Question! |
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Poetry :: Feel free to post verse or links to same, and discuss poetry here. Very long posts can make the site slow-loading, so it is prudent to post a link to a long poem rather than reprint the poem. Please give credit to the original author, even if s/he is deceased.
Note that this is not the place to post your poems. Your writing should be posted to the original writing forum. Ask us a Question!
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| Billy Collins |
Posted by Tarah on May, 12. :: 4 Comments
Nobody I speak to has heard of Billy Collins. I love his work, especially Forgetfulness, and I'm doing my best to spread the word.
None of my friends here in the UK (and this includes me!) knew that the States has a Poet Laureate.
I expect most of you know it, but for those of you who don't, here it is:
Forgetfulness
The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,
as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.
Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,
something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.
Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,
not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.
It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall,
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.
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.
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| Rumi |
Posted by Stray Cat on May, 09. :: 3 Comments
Rumi was a 13th century Persian poet.
Here's one of his poems that I like:
A COMMUNITY OF THE SPIRIT
There is a community of the spirit.
Join it, and feel the delight
of walking in the noisy street
and being the noise.
Drink all your passion,
and be a disgrace.
Close both eyes
to see with the other eye.
Open your hands,
if you want to be held.
Sit down in the circle.
Quit acting like a wolf, and feel
the shepherd's love filling you.
At night, your beloved wanders.
Don't accept consolations.
Close your mouth against food.
Taste the lover's mouth in yours.
You moan, "She left me." "He left me."
Twenty more will come.
Be empty of worrying.
Think of who created thought!
Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?
Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence.
Flow down and down in always
widening rings of being.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I love the line:
"feel the delight
of walking in the noisy street
and being the noise"
Who hasn't had a few nights like that? 
And now........here's another one of his:
THE NEW RULE
It's the old rule that drunks have to argue
and get into fights.
The lover is just as bad. he falls into a hole.
But down in that hole he finds something shining,
worth more than any amount of money or power.
Last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street.
I took it as a sign to start singing,
falling up into the bowl of sky.
The bowl breaks. Everywhere is falling everywhere.
Nothing else to do.
Here's the new rule: break the wineglass,
and fall toward the glassblower's breath.
Inside this new love, die.
Your way begins on the other side.
Become the sky.
Take an axe to the prison wall.
Escape.
Walk out like someone suddenly born into color.
Do it now.
You're covered with thick cloud.
Slide out the side. Die,
and be quiet. Quietness is the surest sign
that you've died.
Your old life was a frantic running
from silence.
The speechless full moon
comes out now.
I used to want buyers for my words.
Now I wish someone would buy me away from words.
I've made a lot of charmingly profound images,
scenes with Abraham, and Abraham's father, Azar,
who was also famous for icons.
I'm so tired of what I've been doing.
Then one image without form came,
and I quit.
Look for someone else to tend the shop.
I'm out of the image-making business.
Finally I know the freedom
of madness.
A random image arrives. I scream,
"Get out!" It disintegrates.
Only love.
Only the holder the flag fits into,
and wind. No flag. "
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am amazed at the "modern" sound of his poems.
"I'm out of the image-making business."
That sounds like something that someone working on Madison Avenue might say!
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| Contrast of Human Nature |
Posted by Brooks on May, 04. :: 2 Comments
I have been assigned the following question for a short essay and I am having trouble developing a clear response.
Compare Alexander Pope’s Essay on Man with Samuel Johnson’s The Vanity of Human Wishes. How do these poets see human nature? What do they caution against? What do they advocate? What important differences do you see between the works?
Here is what I have so far.
In An Essay on Man, Alexander Pope believes man is a prideful being and it is in his nature to serve himself. Man, Pope claims, is driven by his desire for pleasure and is ultimately proud of his achievements. Pope believes that man is ruled from within by passion, or instinct, but passion is guided by reason. However, reason often fails. According to Pope, happiness is attainable, but it can only be found in nature. Pope claims it is human nature to desire to change things. Man is never happy with his current situation and constantly desires more. In the ultimate search for happiness, Pope cautions against man being too trusting, but at the same time, says he shouldn’t be too skeptical.
Samuel Johnson, in The Vanity of Human Wishes, also sees man as a restless being. Man, in his constant desire for change, will never find true happiness. Johnson believes happiness is a state of mind and cannot be found anywhere in the physical world, including nature.
Can anyone provide more information on Samuel Johnson's view of human nature in The Vanity of Human Wishes? I may be reading it wrong, but it appears he is more concerned with the search for happiness (as demonstrated in Rasselas) than he is with man's prideful nature.
Any and all comments would be greatly appreciated! If my argument is unclear, please let me know and I will try to refine it.
Thanks again,
Brooks
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| Does anyone know who wrote this piece of doggerel ? |
Posted by eldertoad on April, 26. :: 9 Comments
Upon a rock yet uncreate , Amid a chaos inchoate , an uncreated being sate . Beneath him rock . Above him cloud . The cloud was rock , and the
rock was cloud . The rock becoming soft and warm , the cloud began to take a form ; a form chaotic , vast and vague that issued in the cosmic egg . And then this being uncreate , upon the egg did incubate , and thus
begat the incubator . Upon the egg did alligate , and thus begat the alligator . The incubator was potentate , but the alligator was potentater !
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| WHEN DAWN MET DAWN |
Posted by Jaden11 on April, 15. :: 2 Comments
[/QUOTE]After a while you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul ......[QUOTE]
IF ANY ONE KNOWS WHERE AND WHO THIS IS THAT WROTE THIS ORIGINALLY PLEASE HELP.
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