Tag: Meryl Natchez

after Louise Glück

Posted on by Meryl in Poetry

Last week I posted a poem by Louise Glück, who won the Nobel Prize, but I wrote this homage long before that happened–earlier this year, really, thinking about the virus:

October

         after Louise Glück

Aren’t the days skimping
on light again,
mornings dark
and darker

doesn’t the time change soon,
shifting the scant light

doesn’t the chill in the air
intensify now

doesn’t it remind you
how everything slows
withers

doesn’t the garden
yield its last sweet tomato
its last cucumber

the basil turns brown
overnight, few eggs
in the nests

doesn’t it seem like this end
might be the end

Meryl Natchez

Lagniappe

Posted on by Meryl in Poetry

traveAnd here, in answer to Simone’s request, and as a bonus for poetry Monday, a video of my reading as part of the Marin County Poetry Center’s Traveling Show (don’t worry, camera work improves as it goes along).

 

 

Monday miscellany

Posted on by Meryl in Poetry

Thanks to MLK, who has given the working world a much-needed day of respite after everyone goes back to work after the holidays.  I hope, like me, you are taking the day slowly, in robe and slippers. Of course, as Larry says about retirement, “It’s great not to be able to tell the difference between regular days and holidays.”

nashI was reminded, via a poem about a martini sent by a friend, of Ogden Nash. I can remember reading his “light verse” in the New Yorker when I was 10 or 12, thinking it was brilliant. He’s pretty much forgotten now, but if you think of him in context, only one generation older than Pound and Eliot, and remember the straight jacket most poets were struggling to get out of, the weight of his lightness is more impressive.  Here are two short samples:

A Word to Husbands

To keep your marriage brimming
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you’re wrong, admit it;
Whenever you’re right, shut up.  Continue reading “Monday miscellany” →

The traveling show

Posted on by Meryl in Events

Last year I read at the Falkirk Center in San Rafael with four other poets as part of the Marin Poetry Center’s Summer Traveling Show. I was very pleasantly surprised at how good the event was, and was glad to be part of it. So this year, I’m doing it again:

Thursday
May 17, 2012
7:00 pm

Readers:
Karla Clark
Andrea Freeman
Stephie Mendel
Maggie Morley
Meryl Natchez
Leah Shelleda

Host: Rebecca Foust

Falkirk Cultural Center, 1408 Mission Street, San Rafael

Okay, so it’s not really in a circus tent. Falkirk is a lovely Victorian with commensurate grounds right in downtown San Rafael. I don’t think I’m reading any pastry poems this year, but will bring something tasty for everyone to eat to go with my poem “In Praise of Fat.” We read for 10 minutes each, and at least last year, it was an intriguing mix, some laughs and some of those sighs a really good poem can elicit. Come hear for yourself.

 

 


Poetry and Pastry

Posted on by Meryl in Poetry

I’m reading tonight, Jun 16, at 7:00 PM

Falkirk Cultural Center
1408 Mission Street, San Rafael

as part of the Marin Poetry Center Summer Traveling Show
hosted by Laurel Feigenbaum

Others include:

Joan Gelfand, Alan Cohen, John Hart, James Phoenix and Andrea Freeman

Because I’m reading “Loaves and Fishes” I’m bringing a fruit tart…mango and blueberry—it’s not pear season. So at the very least they’ll be something yummy to eat.