sugar is smoking (Jason Schneiderman)

A short one today by Jason Schneiderman.

Depressing, ain't it? Death is in all things - even good things are just a prelude. That the things that make life worth living contain traces of death. So life = death. Geez. Wahwah.

Favorite line: "it's amazing how death"

Going Back to Bimble (Maurice Manning)

Long day; very tired. Just fair warning for this day's 'talk' about this poem by Maurice Manning.

It's a travel poem! It tells of a journey - that, if the places are real, you could replicate yourself. I don't like the last few lines - the wrap-up and the final, repeated line, but the pace of the poem is nice and easy-to-read.

Favorite line: "God spread out anywhere"

News from Harlem (Kwame Dawes)

I like this poem by Kwame Dawes.

I normally shy away from lengthy poems, but this one was so story-like. It instantly drew me in and kept my attention. It was not difficult to read, nor did it have convoluted grammar.

It talks of race and history and legend.

I would like to hear the poem read aloud. I think that could only add to its dramatic presence.

Favorite line: "one of / those black men you know never / had a doubt that he is a man and strong"

Song (James Joyce)

For real?! I did not know that James Joyce wrote poetry. Today's poem is very light and frilly.

It doesn't remind me of his prose work, but it's pleasant enough. There is not much to sink into in this poem - nothing real/tangible. I can't really picture the love - what she might look like. Like I said, it's nice enough but I want more.

Favorite line: "My love is in a light attire"

December Love (Randy Blasing)

It's a lovely warm, near-summer day today in CA, but today's poem by Randy Blasing is firmly set in wintertime.

Some of the line breaks strike me as incorrect - they make me misread the grammatical sentence (ex. "from where I made the gesture you would find"). It makes the poem seem a little less polished - and maybe that's intentional - maybe that's the voice of N, a lover who is lost. 

I like that one image (the ice-drawn heart on the car window) carries the whole poem and that it is both a physical thing and a symbolic one - an image that represents the relationship and N's own heart. 

Favorite line: "My heart goes / with you, it said before it melted down"

Nothing Twice (Wislawa Szymborska)

This poem by Wislawa Szymborska is listed as a graduation poem. I guess that's accurate - it's about starting anew and how nothing is repeated so take nothing for granted and appreciate all. It could be for graduation or for any life altering event. Say having a child or quitting smoking.

While the poem seems quick didactic (I wish "I" was in it more), I really like how it is written. The comparisons she makes. Not too much pure imagery, but engaging nonetheless.

Favorite line: "Today is always gone tomorrow."

Water Picture (May Swenson)

I am tiiiiired today, but I find this poem by May Swenson to be calming and uncomplicated.

She describes a scene I think everyone has seen in some variety: objects reflected in water only to be disrupted when the water is disturbed.

Favorite line: "Chimneys / are bent legs bouncing / on clouds below."

Chimneys are bent legs bouncing on clouds below.

Blue Hanuman (Joan Larkin)

Blue Hanuman by Joan Larkin

Could this be called a sonnet? It is 14 lines....

At any rate, it can be called an ekphacsis poem since it is describing something "dashed by the artist on cheap paper."

I like the poem since I can clearly imagine the painting from her words. I also like the one personal line near the end. Perhaps that makes it not quite a rigid ekphacsis, but I like that humanizing bit in this poem about gods.

Favorite line: "A four-armed flutist"

dashed by the artist on cheap paper.

dashed by the artist on cheap paper.

Field (Erin Belieu)

Personally, I don't know how to write a poem that isn't in standard stanzas and poetic lines. Usually, I find other versions to just be affected. I like that in today's poem by Erin Belieu the lines remind me of crops in the field she is describing. Could you harvest these words?

I like that you get the sense of crops and the Southern Delta from this poem. Those few lines in italics make me think of a blues song. I like the poem's sense of waiting in a field and finding in the field - a place where nature and man's handiwork are combined. Perhaps, like a poem - both organic-feeling and yet totally controlled/manufactured. 

Favorite line: "you are sounding. Go home."

To My Mother (Christina Rossetti)

While yesterday's poem  was kind of mother-y (more death-y), today's poem by Christina Rossetti is actually appropriate for today's holiday.

It's short, sweet, well written and rhyming. Not a whole lot more to talk about, but still it's good to find accessible poems for certain occasions.

Favorite line: "To-day's your natal day"

To-day's your natal day