The Poet at 55

Speaking of mirrors...

On Narrative and Lyric

I've been writing poems lately that emphasize a narrative--poems based upon historical figures, both real and imagined. I am trying to avoid the autobiographical, even in my more lyric work.

I am happy with the results. Those poems in which I am directly implicated--it is difficult as a contemporary poet to entirely avoid the self--seem informed by this looking outward; by the avoidance of a mirror.

Supporting Cast

Perfect. There really was a Reverend MacLeod.

Looks like him (i.e., my character), too.

I almost can't make this stuff up.

Finished First Draft

The flag of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company.

A Passing Thought--Mid-draft

How compliant are the dead. You can arrange them, like cut flowers.

-William Gay

Our Ship

This is actually the RMS La Plata, the Oneida's sister ship in the Royal Mail Steam Packet Line.

At Sea with Martin Johnson Heade

I am in the Atlantic Ocean this weekend with Martin Johnson Heade, aboard the RMS Oneida, heading from Brazil to England.

The artist is in a contemplative mood.

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NOTE: The music is by Bobby McFerrin and Yo-Yo Ma, playing a bit of Vivaldi.

This Just In

The beautiful new (Spring, 2008) issue of the Bellingham Review, featuring work by friends Patricia Atkins, Martha Carlson-Bradley, and Kelcey Parker.

Also, one of my Orpheus poems.

More later. I have a busy morning, but a real chance to write this weekend.

Even at 1

He drives, he scores.

Hi, Beth!

Visual Image of the Day

I am working on a new poem.

Watch out, Mr. Albatross!

Happy Birthday, Dante

Però ne la giustizia sempiterna
la vista che riceve il vostro mondo,
com’ occhio per lo mare, entro s’interna;
che, ben che da la proda veggia il fondo,
in pelago nol vede; e nondimeno
èli, ma cela lui l’esser profondo.

Therefore the sight that is granted
To your world penetrates within the Eternal Justice
As the eye into the sea; for though from the shore it sees the bottom,
In the open sea it does not,
And yet the bottom is there but the depth conceals it.

–Dante Alighieri, Paradiso canto xix, lines 58-63 (ca. 1315)

The exact year of Dante's birth is unknown, although it is generally believed to be around 1265. This can be deduced from the biographic allusions in Vita Nuova, "the Inferno" (Halfway through the journey we are living, implying that Dante was around 35 years old, as the average lifespan according to the Bible [Psalms, 89, 10] is 70 years, and as the imaginary travel took place in 1300, Dante must have been born around 1265). Some verses of "the Paradiso" also provide information about the day he was born, stating that he was born under the Gemini sign, i.e., the period between the 21st of May and the 21st of June ("As I revolved with the eternal twins, I saw revealed from hills to river outlets, the threshing-floor that makes us so ferocious", Paradiso canto XXII, lines 151-154). Dante died on or about September 13-14, 1321.

His birthday is celebrated on May 21.

Dante's central work, the Divina Commedia (originally called "Commedia" and later called "Divina" by Boccaccio hence "Divina Commedia"), is considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature. In Italian he is known as "the Supreme Poet" (il Sommo Poeta). Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio are also known as "the three fountains" or "the three crowns." Dante is also called the "Father of the Italian language." The first biography written on him was by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375), who wrote the Trattatello in laude di Dante.



I just bought a copy of Vita Nuova, and am anxious to start it.

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NOTE: Information regarding Dante's life is from Wikipedia, edited to meet our (oh, let's pretend) exacting standards at S@4A.M.

The painting (at top) is "Dante and His Poem 'The Divine Comedy'," by Domenico di Michelino (1465).

To top it off...

It's on to the Stanley Cup Finals for the Detroit Red Wings, who blasted those pesky Dallas Stars last night, 4-1.

Milestones

Today is my birthday.

Thought for the Day

“Revision is the poet’s most difficult, demanding, and dangerous work. Difficult because it’s hard to let go of our original inspirations or ideas or our best lines, as we may have to do in service to the poem. Demanding because it calls for us to reach deeper or further than we may want to, or feel we know how to. Dangerous because we feel we might, in the act of trying to make a good poem better, lose touch with the raw energy that drove the poem into its fullness to begin with and destroy what we have so joyously created. But revision is necessary work for poets who care about their craft. Richard Tillinghast, in an essay titled ‘Notes on Revision,’ says, ‘The willingness, the ardent desire even, to revise, separates the poet from the person who sees poetry as therapy or self-expression.’ Ardent desire may be a bit more than we can hope for, but certainly willingness is important.”

-Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux, “The Energy of
Revision,” in The Poet’s Companion (W. W. Norton, 1997)

Home

Safely home, with many new books.

The session on revision went well.

More later.