Some impossible Tuesday in the year Two Thousand and Nine

[rymenhild]

villainny just posted her favorite poem, reminding me that poetry is just what I need on this dispiriting sleepless night. To be fair, I haven't tried to sleep yet. But I'm anxious about the state of academia and the state of the world, and I'm not relaxed enough to want to try.

I couldn't choose one favorite poem, so instead I provide links:

Marilyn Hacker - Rune of the Finland Woman
Marianne Moore - Sojourn in the Whale
Theodore Roethke - Once More, the Round

And last, from one of the darkest (and, occasionally, most unnecessarily gory) poems I know, a passage I find somehow hopeful:

Galway Kinnell, The Book of Nightmares (1971), VII.4.

And you yourself,
some impossible Tuesday
in the year Two Thousand and Nine, will walk out
among the black stones
of the field, in the rain,

and the stones saying
over their one word, ci-gicirct, ci-gicirct, ci-gicirct,

and the raindrops
hitting you on the fontanel
over and over, and you standing there
unable to let them in.

Comments

[cleo]

I have tried to sleep. *sigh*

I'm glad you posted this.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

In that case, here's another.

Denise Levertov - O Taste and See

[cleo]

Oh! Wow... That is wonderful.

[irisbleufic.livejournal.com]

Based on that excerpt alone, I must read this Book of Nightmares.

*click*

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Yes. It's ... I want to think of a critical vocabulary to describe it, but The Book of Nightmares is not like any other poem I've ever read, and I love it so.

(Well, perhaps Merrill's Changing Light at Sandover. Except Changing Light is about twelve times longer than it needs to be, and although Book of Nightmares is long, it's exactly the right length.)

[nigita.livejournal.com]

Yes.

Thank you, rymn.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

You're welcome.

[arcana-mundi.livejournal.com]

I've added you to my friendslist, if that's ok - we have a heap of people in common, and I've enjoyed reading over your latest public entries. Cheers!

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

I've already added you back. Come in and stay a while!

[arcana-mundi.livejournal.com]

Lovely! Thanks so much. :-)

[flintknappy.livejournal.com]

Aww, I send you a hug. I'm sorry you were worrying. I know I talked to you about this earlier that night, but I hadn't read this entry until now to know you were up unable to sleep. I hope you sleep well tonight. The state of academia will be what it will be. For now, concentrate on writing a spiffy dissertation. Cross the next bridge when you come to it.