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well, with Henry, he was self published what do i do send into this entity a letter from his widow Joan? she knows how much i adored him and he kinda really liked me, if only for my exuberance, not my mastery of poetry LOL....
and sure, it's just hard, as i have no means of proving the generosity of all the great poets i have met, adored and promoted for the past 12 years
and i can quote a few lines, but 75, maybe 85 percent of the poems written in the last 50 years are NOT ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB, SO NOW my hands are tied from being able to post from my poetry library
Poetry is so personal...... yanno? Most every American love love loves Billy Collins.... even I, who truly dislikes the poet as a man....gosh, he's supercilious and i don't know if he finally married "Elvira" as we called her, just this 6 foot tall amazonian priestess of darkness, i forget her real name and probably wouldn't be right to mention it anyway..... my gawds was she a piece of work..... a small group of us, spurred on by moi, ok, maybe not in pure jest, but kinda tweaking his nose at his own superiority (yes, he is the ONLY American poet who can live off of his royalties, he is that popular and because his poems are generally quite funny he is just adored) at one Dodge Poetry Fest, I started to call him Zeus, and as we passed him between workshops, we did the Zeus like most people do the " Bruce" in a mezzo bass for Springstein.... anyway Elvira lit into us, even though Billy had smiled and given a thumbs up at the beginning, i'm sure we kinda started to grate on his nerves...well, Elvira would have none of it. sheesh.
No I don't like Billy Collins at all, but the rest of America does, and even i would laugh until i wet my panties every time i heard the Lanyard poem..... my gawd, one of the funniest poems ever written!!!!! Cause he reads it so sardonically!!!!!!! and is deadpan at the right places..... presentation is everything sometimes.
Yes, I was blessed in this life, and I love that netwit loved Robert!!!!!! Robert is alive, but in very ill health and i can't disclose why..... but i could call Lucille Clifton grandma, and I literally fell to the ground, unable to stand the shock of finally being able to meet Joy Harjo, oh do read Lucille, anything by her, and Joy especially do not miss her poem I GIVE YOU BACK..... so so moving.... read Marie HOwe!!!! Read Terrance Hayes, read Maxine Kumin and OMG Galway Kinnell who would schmooze with me for hours at Poets House.... read Rachel McKibbens poem Mother's Day, i sob uncontrollably everytime she reads it and i'm pretty sure you can't find online....
OH WAIT!!!!!!!!!!! IT TOOK HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS, BUT I HAVE A WAY OUT OF THIS CONUNDRUM!!!!!!
YOU TUBE..... YOU DEFINITELY CAN FIND Rachel on You tube.... and i can send links to a kazillion poets i love from You Tube because the Dodge has posted performances for the past some 12 or 14 years there now!!!!!!!!! but alas, Henry never performed there, and i guess i will post snippets of lines like
I adore the married couple Dorrianne Laux and Joe Millar, they are right here in NC but often out on the west coast, both wondrous poets and the young Dickman Brothers, who Dorieanne and Joe mentored when they were both teaching on the west coast..... LOL, was hoping they'd mentor this old geezer, but i understand why not, they had grad students whose life were going to be as poets, who needed all the help they could give.............. stilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll...... ...........
Plus yanno? it is harder to sometimes listen to a poem than to read it, when it's down on the page, you can over and over a line, sometimes with a recording, you are just going to have a bad sound system and miss something beautiful
OMG, Marlow thank you for visiting here and for your kind input
I had no clue people have added this to their subscription lists!!!! I'm so happy!!!! Thank you everyone!!!!
and again: DO NOT BE SHY ABOUT POSTING YOUR OWN FAVORITE LINKS TO POEMS!!!!
p.s. here's Taha's REVENGE on You Tube!!!!!!!! and he'll read it first in Arabic, but then the translator will read.... and watch Taha's precious hand motions, urging you to listen carefully at this spot... or that spot!!!!!!
and here's another quick film explaining how poetry adds splendor to our lives, and him in front of his little souvenir shop, where i was to get my carved-by-himself camel words alone can't express my love for this little man. i loved him so. and it's so wonderful to hear him speak in long sentences again, when i first met him, there were just winks, just smiles, i knew he understood some of what i said, but as he gained more world wide prominence, he still wouldn't speak much english.... only at that last Dodge would i hear one or two english words, Peter Cole, his always translator and great friend explained how he hated to mangle English, was afraid people would think him ignorant.... and of course, when Peter was reading his own poetry, Taha and I would sit alone, in silence, smiling here and there as Peter read, for he was a very proud Palestinian man, proud of having re-fashioned his life...... and oh, that is another wonderful poet, JIM HABA DOING THE INTRO, not necessarily well known, but awfully well loved.....now that brain cells have kicked in, I will be posting LINKS TO Jim, who was very unceremoniously kicked out of the Dodge by an awful awful man who shall remain nameless..... whole thousands of people never returned once they did that to Jim, one of the most erudite poetry lover in the entire world...... i swear half the thousands who came to the Dodge did so just to hear Jim's eloquent introductions to the poets.
i don't know if i should post one you tube video..... or two....
i suppose i should keep it simple, especially for those not used to poetry.
some poems are packed with powerful, imagery laden words, and for a newcomer to poetry, those lovely words can get lost if you aren't tuned into listening..... that is why i bemoan that that i can't have the poem typed out here.
so i guess the next best thing is to forward two links if it is possible, for many many poems i love simply are not on the web. There is this wondrous tribe of poetry lovers out there, you may not even suppose were there, for poetry is not very popular in our culture and not at all what goes on all over the world, why, in Israel? Poetry is a column in every newspaper and of course, much of that is political, pointed and revolutionary. I won't be able to find this poem anywhere for sure, but the Israeli poet Aharon Shabtai read at the Dodge a hysterically funny poem called Kaka-poo-poo, about the two leading contenders for Prime Minister of Israel Tomas Transtromer was a national hero in his native Sweden and there was a national day of mourning when he died in 2015. I never met Tomas, though my hero Robert Bly did and often...but i did meet one of his closest friends the Syrian poet Adonis, another truly remarkable man. LOL, and don't even get me started on Wales, the most passionate poetry people on the planet, the entire country is mad with words, they have a week long poetry festival that puts our Dodge to shame.
and how weird is it that so many who do love poetry have never heard of the Dodge? I hope Cory Booker gets elected one day as President.... i actually hope he does not run in 2020, for the resentments, anger, hatred of Obama are still too new, the scars not healed.....but when Cory is President, for he is such an elegant and passionate man (and great poetry lover ) that I will lobby him tirelessly that every American has to attend the Dodge at least for one (out of the four days) day one time in their life.
Poetry is vital for our souls. You may not believe that, but hopefully here you will come to find that beautiful words, strung in the most perfect order, will invade your heart, and become part of you
Well, i'm not eloquent enough, I can't express how poetry opened my heart, my mind, my soul to the world entire. Once you get to be amidst these great minds, you can't help but be transformed..... words are the most powerful weapons, and the most beautiful gifts ..... words are not mere words on a page, they can be lived. my life is a poem. i am poetry.
Here is the great poetry bear, Galway Kinnell...... of course i adored him, he was of Irish heritage like me, his poems are testament to that...... a retired NYU professor, I could meet him at Washington Square, we'd walk over to Poet's house, where he'd select a book for me to read. They have every poetry book ever published, omg, heaven for me!!!! He'd come over as i read, pointing out this line, that poem and why that stuck with him..... what a generous gift he was. Once Maxine Kumin walked in, as she was reading there later in the evening.... i had come early, for at the old POet's house, it was tiny and cramped and you had to arrive hours early in order to stake your claim to a chair in that tiny reading room. And of course, not long after, came Galway.... who oh so sweetly introduced me to Maxine. I had heard her at the Dodge, and had books signed by her after her readings, but never gotten to know her...... but we had this shared love of horses and of course Galway remembered that about me, and felt we would have a great connection. He was right!!! She was such a powerful woman!!!!!.... lol and lived on the other side of the mountain that separated her from Donald Hall..... omg, There's another great story, Donald Hall and Daisy Kenyon. Great Blue Heron, don't forget to add them to your reading list!!!!
So here's just one of my absolute favorite Galway poems. first the link to the poem, so you can read along, then the youtube video link. enjoy. i never got to meet Fergus, alas, but saw him at Galways memorial after his death in Vermont
After Making Love we hear Footsteps (i thrill ever time to the last line : this blessing love gives again to our arms).... also, Galway was known as the poet of passionate love.... plus a great friend of Robert....and James Wright...oh that tortured soul.....
i don't know if i should post one you tube video..... or two....
i suppose i should keep it simple, especially for those not used to poetry.
some poems are packed with powerful, imagery laden words, and for a newcomer to poetry, those lovely words can get lost if you aren't tuned into listening..... that is why i bemoan that that i can't have the poem typed out here.
so i guess the next best thing is to forward two links if it is possible, for many many poems i love simply are not on the web. There is this wondrous tribe of poetry lovers out there, you may not even suppose were there, for poetry is not very popular in our culture and not at all what goes on all over the world, why, in Israel? Poetry is a column in every newspaper and of course, much of that is political, pointed and revolutionary. I won't be able to find this poem anywhere for sure, but the Israeli poet Aharon Shabtai read at the Dodge a hysterically funny poem called Kaka-poo-poo, about the two leading contenders for Prime Minister of Israel Tomas Transtromer was a national hero in his native Sweden and there was a national day of mourning when he died in 2015. I never met Tomas, though my hero Robert Bly did and often...but i did meet one of his closest friends the Syrian poet Adonis, another truly remarkable man. LOL, and don't even get me started on Wales, the most passionate poetry people on the planet, the entire country is mad with words, they have a week long poetry festival that puts our Dodge to shame.
and how weird is it that so many who do love poetry have never heard of the Dodge? I hope Cory Booker gets elected one day as President.... i actually hope he does not run in 2020, for the resentments, anger, hatred of Obama are still too new, the scars not healed.....but when Cory is President, for he is such an elegant and passionate man (and great poetry lover ) that I will lobby him tirelessly that every American has to attend the Dodge at least for one (out of the four days) day one time in their life.
Poetry is vital for our souls. You may not believe that, but hopefully here you will come to find that beautiful words, strung in the most perfect order, will invade your heart, and become part of you
Well, i'm not eloquent enough, I can't express how poetry opened my heart, my mind, my soul to the world entire. Once you get to be amidst these great minds, you can't help but be transformed..... words are the most powerful weapons, and the most beautiful gifts ..... words are not mere words on a page, they can be lived. my life is a poem. i am poetry.
Here is the great poetry bear, Galway Kinnell...... of course i adored him, he was of Irish heritage like me, his poems are testament to that...... a retired NYU professor, I could meet him at Washington Square, we'd walk over to Poet's house, where he'd select a book for me to read. They have every poetry book ever published, omg, heaven for me!!!! He'd come over as i read, pointing out this line, that poem and why that stuck with him..... what a generous gift he was. Once Maxine Kumin walked in, as she was reading there later in the evening.... i had come early, for at the old POet's house, it was tiny and cramped and you had to arrive hours early in order to stake your claim to a chair in that tiny reading room. And of course, not long after, came Galway.... who oh so sweetly introduced me to Maxine. I had heard her at the Dodge, and had books signed by her after her readings, but never gotten to know her...... but we had this shared love of horses and of course Galway remembered that about me, and felt we would have a great connection. He was right!!! She was such a powerful woman!!!!!.... lol and lived on the other side of the mountain that separated her from Donald Hall..... omg, There's another great story, Donald Hall and Daisy Kenyon. Great Blue Heron, don't forget to add them to your reading list!!!!
So here's just one of my absolute favorite Galway poems. first the link to the poem, so you can read along, then the youtube video link. enjoy. i never got to meet Fergus, alas, but saw him at Galways memorial after his death in Vermont
After Making Love we hear Footsteps (i thrill ever time to the last line : this blessing love gives again to our arms).... also, Galway was known as the poet of passionate love.... plus a great friend of Robert....and James Wright...oh that tortured soul.....
Yeah, I think i did explain the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry festival is North America's largest poetry festival..... before the Dodge and meeting Robert in 2002, I doubt i could count on one hand the poets i had read..... Robert took me in hand because i cracked him up something fierce. I was quite mesmerized by his friend Coleman Barks, who he had exhorted to bring Rumi to life.... and very controversial at that, for Coleman neither reads nor speaks Arabic, but he repurposed the poems for modern American audiences and they read everywhere together..... and their early morning Rumi with the Paul Winter Consort was so popular at 7 am, we had to get up at 5:45 to get a good seat Coleman alas, could only be controlled by Robert, he was a raving alcoholic and a really angry sloppy one at that...... he had a stroke a few years back, i don't know if he reads in public anymore. I know Robert doesn't, but he does have his annual men's conference that he did attend two years ago.
Robert literally fell off his chair when i approached them to sign their books after their reading. I was star struck, Coleman was what i considered a very handsome southern gentleman with just the most elegant southern drawl i ever heard...... i foolishly looked googley-eyed at him when he handed me back the book and said, to my utter embarassment: I could swim on the ocean of your voice forever. omg. talk about crazy..... Robert just fell off his chair laughing, hooting, rolling in the grass!!!!.... "Well Mr. Barks, are you going to make this woman honest or shall we ask Galway????? and i must have looked terrified that i was going to be passed around at some poet orgy or something, but Robert took a long walk with me, and there started the great friendship. He invited me to the Berkshires where they were going after the Dodge and spent a glorious 4 days with them both.... and my poetry education began
i doubt i can withstand that 6 - 8 hour drive to Newark, for this is a Dodge year (it's a biennial event) nor would I really want to go unless many of the poets i truly love were there,,,, they haven't announced the lineup of poets yet, they should by mid June or so, and then i'd have to book a room, as the hotels closest to NJPac fill very very fast, I don't feel like driving in every morning from Rutherford
The first poet Robert had me read was James Wright.... he died back in the 80's so there are no youtube recordings, but there is a nice reading by a poet ..... it is Robert and James at this roadside field outside Rochester MN..... Robert couldn't help James with his demons, and he suffered terribly from alcoholism and nervous breakdowns.... both he and his son Franz were both Pulitzer Prize winners, and when i met Franz, and regaled him about Robert and I...he wrote to me often, privately, agonizing letters and even gave suggestions on poems I'd give to him. He was so kind and generous..... and then the proverbial ***t hit the fan, i can't remember now over what, and he wrote me out of his life, which kinda hurt a lot..... even worse a depressive, drug addicted manic ranting sad sad man, he died a few years back. Here is Jame's Wrights A Blessing..... and it was the last line that just did me in. enjoy!!!!
Thanks for explaining Dodge again...you must have been to so many, met such interesting poets and others. I looked it up online...huge gathering of poets and poetry lovers.
Do you have a favorite or two from the list of attending poets??
That was a nice poem...the line about the horse's ear was sweet.
Last edited by greatblueheron; 05-06-2018 at 11:51 AM..
well, obviously Robert.... and my "grandmother" Lucille Clifton....
but more importantly, was Henry, who i did not meet at the Dodge but met through Robert inviting me to his Great Mother Conference.
Henry was the most amazing, gentle heart....that he would let me sit in the same room as him as he regaled real poets brought me such joy.... i can't explain what it is to sit in a room with such an erudite mind, a mind that encompassed whole centuries of literary thought.... and that he was just a goof ball to the max? well, he was a charmer.....
if you were like me, marching, sitting in, standing up against the war in Vietnam, then chances are you read at your campus moratorium "The Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority" in 1967 .... which Henry co-wrote...... also found guilty of tax evasion, he refused to pay taxes for that illegitimate war, instead donating his tax requirements to Veterans hospitals and the Philly public school system. At age 37, as punishment for burning his draft card, he went from 4F to 1A and got noticed by Time Magazine for that distinction, i loved him more than any man ever. he made me laugh, endlessly, he gave me permission to run wild with imagination..... this you tube video captures nicely his essence, some of it filmed in the town hall where we gathered for his memorial..... and there is his gorgeous wife Joan, who he met in Paris when he was studying there as a Fulbright Scholar. Oh how i miss trundling up his overgrown lane to that well weathered farmhouse...... a piece of me lies in those weeds, i tossed a silver claddagh ring there so i might forever be a part of his world..... i miss him so terribly much. I include one of my fave pics of Henry at Halloween, he loved that damn deer mask, he would wear it everywhere, lol
actually, one of my true favorites kinda evolved from sheer and utter disdain of him...... to a grudging respect.... Tony Hoagland.
He is the epitome of how i want people to see modern american poetry.... he believes a poet should be the chief complainer of our tribe of humans, should be the one with a grudge or chip on the shoulder, a tumor in his gut..... the one who will rail about the way birds s**t on his car.... and when i first heard him read, he did seem petulant, elitist, stand offish and like his you-know-what never smelled....
and then lo and behold he showed up at Great Mother. Oh great, i moaned, just what the heck was Robert thinking inviting this yahoo? and i studiously avoided his workshops, fake-snored loudly during any session he led...... to say this guy rubbed me the wrong way was an understatement..... but after his third summer there, he was beginning to grow on me gosh darn it, he was mellowing, he was becoming human, and real and not so cocky.... He once said that the Great Mother, New FAther conference was a rebirth for him, made him soggier, made him less sure that life was as black and white has he had once believed....... and so I started to go to his workshops....not so successfully, he could tell i was a lightweight as far as my poetry talent, so he didn't waste time on me....but i kept showing up...and one summer, on the porch outside the great lodge, i shared a poem i had written during that workshop...... and i got some back handed praise from him.... and eye brows raised in surprise.... he said" wow, i wouldn't have thought it was you that wrote that!!!" and yeah, i took that as a mild praise
Tony is wildly popular with teenagers, for he writes of his own teenage years where he was an alien in a world of men far hairier, snapping jock-straps, telling jokes he never understood.... if you need to be convinced that modern American poetry has little to do with Robert Lowell or Alfred Lord Tennyson, read Tony Hoagland and you will be hooked for life on poetry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6AcgcfVj3M..... the only one with a guy acting it out and least annoying of the ones read by someone else.... it's just darn funny having that guy act it out
is anyone kinda getting at what i want for those of you who just got away or never even came to poetry before? I want you to not seek answers from poems, but to recognize the questions that made that poem come alive for you, it's never about the meaning, it's about the very human connection between your experience and that of another human being, only they said it maybe more clearly, maybe more beautifully than you dared to. maybe i shall find some courage to share one of my poems, i don't know, i just know Lucille and I, we both wrote poetry based on our personal experiences, and it helped to resolve lots of things we never thought we would ever resolve.
Last edited by ceiligrrl; 05-08-2018 at 06:33 PM..
just one for today, i think i'm overwhelming people
i love Mary Oliver, lol, i stalked her for a few years ..... don't laugh, i spent an entire week outside Mary Oliver's P-town house...... she's a inveterate hermit and hardly is ever seen...... though i hear she will make visits out to the west coast and she was reading in public after the great loss of her lifelong companion.
look, if you read one thing here, please let it be this poem, Wild Geese "you do not have to be good...... you only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves"...............(((((((((((((((((((sigh)))))) )))))))))))) i wanna write like this
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