Month: May 2018

Those Polish Poets

Posted on by Meryl in Poetry

World War II and Poland seemed to create a unique environment for poetry. That unfortunate Catholic country, smack between Russia and Germany,  produced dozens of wise, chastened, articulate writers, many of whose poems I’ve posted in the past. One I hadn’t read before is Ryszard Krynicki.  He mostly writes short, bitter, ironic poems, like salt on the rim of the glass:

Rights

–What rights?
do you mean?
The right to life?
You can’t extend it even by an instant,
though you’re dying of curiosity:
who won, who killed.
–The right to fight?
The right of the fittest comes first…
So you’re speaking not of human
rights, Continue reading “Those Polish Poets” →

Children’s Poetry

Posted on by Meryl in Poetry

I’ve been thinking a lot about rhyme lately, how it’s almost impossible to write a contemporary poem with conventional rhyme, but songs and nursery rhymes still rely on rhyme. Children especially love rhyme, and some of my favorite children’s poetry is by A.A. Milne, who in addition to Winnie the Pooh, has two books of children’s verse, Now We Are Six and When We Were Very Young.

I was reciting these to my grandson the other day, to both of our delight:

Disobedience

James James				
Morrison Morrison			
Weatherby George Dupree			
Took great				
Care of his Mother			
Though he was only three.		
James James				
Said to his Mother,			
"Mother," he said, said he;		
"You must never go down to the end of the town, if
you don't go down with me."		


James James				
Morrison's Mother			
Put on a golden gown,			
James James				
Morrison's Mother			
Drove to the end of the town.		
James James				
Morrison's Mother			
Said to herself, said she:		
"I can get right down to the end of the town and be
back in time for tea."			

King John				
Put up a notice,			
"LOST or STOLEN or STRAYED!		
JAMES JAMES				
MORRISON'S MOTHER			
SEEMS TO HABE BEEN MISLAID.		
LAST SEEN				
WANDERING VAGUELY			
QUITE OF HER OWN ACCORD,		
SHE TRIED TO GET DOWN TO THE END OF	
THE TOWN - FORTY SHILLINGS REWARD!	


James James				
Morrison Morrison			
(Commonly known as Jim)			
Told his				
Other relations				
Not to go blaming him.			
James James				
Said to his Mother,			
"Mother," he said, said he,		
"You must never go down to the end of the town with-
out consulting me."			


James James				
Morrison's Mother			
Hasn't been heard of since.		
King John				
Said he was sorry,			
So did the Queen and Prince.		
King John				
(Somebody told me)			
Said to a man he knew:			
"If people go down to the end of the town, well, what
can anyone do?"				

(Now then, very softly)			
J. J.					
M. M.					
W. G. du P.				
Took great				
C/o his M*****				
Though he was only 3.			
J. J.					
Said to his M*****			
"M*****," he said, said he:		
"You-must-never-go-down-to-the-end-of-the-town-if-
you-don't-go-down-with ME!"

 

Monday poem

Posted on by Meryl in Poetry

This was one of the poetry selections by the American Academy of Poets for Mother’s Day–it seems to me a sort of love poem from a mother to a teenage child. I like its strange title.

Hours Days Years Unmoor Their Orbits

tonight I’m cleaning baby portobellos
for you, my young activist

wiping the dirty tops with a damp cloth
as carefully as I used to rinse raspberries

for you to adorn your fingertips
before eating each blood-red prize

these days you rarely look me in the eye
& your long shagged hair hides your smile Continue reading “Monday poem” →

Poem in your pocket

Posted on by Meryl in Poetry

3Poetry month just ended, and the Berkeley Library printed some wonderful poems by local poets. When soliciting work, they sent out a sample of last year’s choices and I liked this one by Ed Hirsch:

Cotton Candy

We walked on the bridge over the Chicago River
for what turned out to be the last time,
and I ate cotton candy, that sugary air,
that sweet blue light sun out of nothingness. Continue reading “Poem in your pocket” →