Poetry meme
Jun. 7th, 2005 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trixtah...that ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
commodorified has been clobbering people over the head with. I suppose I'll join this party. :-)
Jabberwocky - Lewis Carroll
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Jabberwocky was the first poem I learned by heart, when I was 10, and I can still recite it, no problems. I attempted to memorise the Walrus and the Carpenter as well, but it was just a wee bit too long. With Jabberwocky, I loved the language--"galumphing" has always been one of my favourite words, and I think "mimsy" is perfect for expressing a certain frame of mind.
Among School Children - WB Yeats
Labour is blossoming or dancing where
The body is not bruised to pleasure soul.
Nor beauty born out of its own despair,
Nor blear-eyed wisdom out of midnight oil.
O chestnut-tree, great-rooted blossomer,
Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole?
O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
How can we know the dancer from the dance?
Yeats is often overwrought for my taste, but this perfectly expresses one of my beliefs about how we can't separate our bodily health from our emotional or spiritual health. I memorised this when I was 16 -- I don't remember where I came across it originally -- and really, it's no wonder I studied homeopathy, with its emphasis on treating the whole person.
Absence - Pablo Neruda
I have scarcely left you
when you go in me, crystalline,
or trembling,
or uneasy, wounded by me
or overwhelmed with love, as when your eyes
close upon the gift of life
that without cease I give you.
My love,
we have found each other
thirsty and we have
drunk up all the water and the blood,
we found each other
hungry
and we bit each other
as fire bites,
leaving wounds in us.
But wait for me,
keep for me your sweetness.
I will give you too
a rose.
I have spent too much time separated from people I love. And Neruda expresses exactly how that feels.
My Lady Ain't No Lady - Pat Parker
my lady ain't no lady
she doesn't flow into a room--
she enters & her presence is felt.
she doesn't sit small--
she takes all of her space.
she doesn't partake of meals--
she eats--replenishes herself.
my lady ain't no lady--
she has been known
to speak in a loud voice,
to pick her nose,
stumble on a sidewalk,
swear at her cats,
swear at me,
scream obscenities at men,
paint rooms,
repair houses,
tote garbage,
play basketball,
& numerous other
un lady like things.
my lady is definitely no lady
which is fine with me,
cause i ain't no gentleman
This poem always makes me laugh. And so expresses what I love about my lovers, even when they're being girly.
High Country Weather - James K. Baxter
Alone we are born
And die alone:
Yet see the red-gold cirrus
Over snow-mountain shine.
Upon the upland road
Ride easy, stranger:
Surrender to the sky
Your heart of anger.
One of James K. Baxter's quintessential New Zealand nature poems. There are a couple about the bush (forest) that I also love, but this one really expresses what nature/the earth/the universe gives to me.
All day I am dreaming a forest - Caroline Griffin
All day
I am dreaming a forest.
Leaves and folds of branches
hold me in a darkness
deeper than the daily tasks
ringing in my head
and in my hands.
How heavily the bee walks
abdomen dipping with each step --
but ours was
no dry wings or
urgent hive.
You dip against me
heavy with light.
Our lips meet
forming that O now
joined and shuddering down.
All day I return to you.
touch the damp hair
back against your forehead.
wanting this damp this
mortal tenderness
more than any river essence
we may become
or any other darkness.
I flatted with Caroline when I first moved to London. The flatting situation didn't work out, but she is a damn fine poet. And it features forests and bees, two of my favourite things.
commodorified has been clobbering people over the head with. I suppose I'll join this party. :-)Jabberwocky - Lewis Carroll
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Jabberwocky was the first poem I learned by heart, when I was 10, and I can still recite it, no problems. I attempted to memorise the Walrus and the Carpenter as well, but it was just a wee bit too long. With Jabberwocky, I loved the language--"galumphing" has always been one of my favourite words, and I think "mimsy" is perfect for expressing a certain frame of mind.
Among School Children - WB Yeats
Labour is blossoming or dancing where
The body is not bruised to pleasure soul.
Nor beauty born out of its own despair,
Nor blear-eyed wisdom out of midnight oil.
O chestnut-tree, great-rooted blossomer,
Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole?
O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
How can we know the dancer from the dance?
Yeats is often overwrought for my taste, but this perfectly expresses one of my beliefs about how we can't separate our bodily health from our emotional or spiritual health. I memorised this when I was 16 -- I don't remember where I came across it originally -- and really, it's no wonder I studied homeopathy, with its emphasis on treating the whole person.
Absence - Pablo Neruda
I have scarcely left you
when you go in me, crystalline,
or trembling,
or uneasy, wounded by me
or overwhelmed with love, as when your eyes
close upon the gift of life
that without cease I give you.
My love,
we have found each other
thirsty and we have
drunk up all the water and the blood,
we found each other
hungry
and we bit each other
as fire bites,
leaving wounds in us.
But wait for me,
keep for me your sweetness.
I will give you too
a rose.
I have spent too much time separated from people I love. And Neruda expresses exactly how that feels.
My Lady Ain't No Lady - Pat Parker
my lady ain't no lady
she doesn't flow into a room--
she enters & her presence is felt.
she doesn't sit small--
she takes all of her space.
she doesn't partake of meals--
she eats--replenishes herself.
my lady ain't no lady--
she has been known
to speak in a loud voice,
to pick her nose,
stumble on a sidewalk,
swear at her cats,
swear at me,
scream obscenities at men,
paint rooms,
repair houses,
tote garbage,
play basketball,
& numerous other
un lady like things.
my lady is definitely no lady
which is fine with me,
cause i ain't no gentleman
This poem always makes me laugh. And so expresses what I love about my lovers, even when they're being girly.
High Country Weather - James K. Baxter
Alone we are born
And die alone:
Yet see the red-gold cirrus
Over snow-mountain shine.
Upon the upland road
Ride easy, stranger:
Surrender to the sky
Your heart of anger.
One of James K. Baxter's quintessential New Zealand nature poems. There are a couple about the bush (forest) that I also love, but this one really expresses what nature/the earth/the universe gives to me.
All day I am dreaming a forest - Caroline Griffin
All day
I am dreaming a forest.
Leaves and folds of branches
hold me in a darkness
deeper than the daily tasks
ringing in my head
and in my hands.
How heavily the bee walks
abdomen dipping with each step --
but ours was
no dry wings or
urgent hive.
You dip against me
heavy with light.
Our lips meet
forming that O now
joined and shuddering down.
All day I return to you.
touch the damp hair
back against your forehead.
wanting this damp this
mortal tenderness
more than any river essence
we may become
or any other darkness.
I flatted with Caroline when I first moved to London. The flatting situation didn't work out, but she is a damn fine poet. And it features forests and bees, two of my favourite things.