Contemporary Poetry

[Dale]

For those of you who think that contemporary poetry has become too oblique or opaque or inaccessible or whatever.....I thought you might enjoy this poem which actually appears in the highly-regarded poetry journal, BARROW STREET, Summer 2004 issue. I can't guarantee that I got the punctuation exactly right. Also, some of the lines are indented and I can't seem to make that happen here. But, other than that, this is a fairly close rendition of the poem. Enjoy! Discuss!

Dale



Reciprocity Effects by Geoff Bouvier

I am determined by and will change from a list___
...........................................................................................
.................------...................................................................
...---faced evasions....................................
----.....................................................
....----a fervor:
"........................................---backed.....................
...........................................................of..........................
.-----............................................................
..........of......................................................"

[Dale]

In fairness, the issue also included five or six other prose poems by Mr. Bouvier, which were pretty darn decent.

[Jayhawk]

I think I prefer contemporary poetry like this:

‘Selecting a Reader'

First, I would have her be beautiful,

and walking carefully up on my poetry

at the loneliest moment of an afternoon,

her hair still damp at the neck

from washing it. She should be wearing

a raincoat, an old one, dirty

from not having money enough for the cleaners.

She will take out her glasses, and there

in the bookstore, she will thumb

over my poems, then put the book back

up on its shelf. She will say to herself,

“For that kind of money, I can get

my raincoat cleaned.” And she will.

— Ted Kooser


Eric

[emmline]

Love it. (the 2nd one.)

I believe the first one represents the cognitive efforts of a cyborg who just blew a fuse.

[Walden]

Do I write contemporary poetry?

[Nanohedron]

Do I write contemporary poetry?

So far, yes.

[glauber]

Do I write contemporary poetry?

Some
times
...

[Walden]

Do I write contemporary poetry?

So far, yes.

and so
longing, reaching, whining
yonder where the cows grow
whirr whirr whirr
lerd

[Nanohedron]

Do I write contemporary poetry?

So far, yes.

and so
longing, reaching, whining
yonder where the cows grow
whirr whirr whirr
lerd

[Will O'B]

The mind numbing thing of it all is that the better literary rags typically publish fewer than 1% of the submissions they receive.

Will O'Ban

[Reyburnwhistles]

Here's one for ya...

I live my life in growing orbits
which move out over the things of the world.

Perhaps I can never achieve the last,
but that will be my attempt.

I am cirlcing around God,
around the ancient tower,
and I have been circling for
a thousand years.

And I'm still not sure if
I am a raven, or a storm or
a great song.

Ranier Maria Rilke

Enjoy
Ronaldo

[Bloomfield]

Oh, good one, Ronaldo! It's much nicer in German. I've never felt that Rilke translated well into English.

Ich lebe mein Leben in wachsenden Ringen

Ich lebe mein Leben in wachsenden Ringen,
die sich über die Dinge ziehn.
Ich werde den letzten vielleicht nicht vollbringen,
aber versuchen will ich ihn.

Ich kreise um Gott, um den uralten Turm,
und ich kreise jahrtausendelang;
und ich weiß noch nicht: bin ich ein Falke, ein Sturm
oder ein großer Gesang.

Rainer Maria Rilke (written in 1899)

Just a few words, I guess, on the translation: It is the last orbit (or ring) that he may not complete and in German the word for complete, achieve and fulfill are (can be) the same, so that there is a level of meaning lost in the English "achieve" (how do you achieve an orbit, anyway?).

"I have been circling for a thousand years" puts in the past what isn't in the past in German: it says "I am circling for millenia" and it is ambivalent as to whether that was in the past or will continue into the future.

Finally, the "raven" is actually a falcon, and "song" is insufficient to express Gesang, which is bigger: like a mountain range compared to a mountain.

[Jennie]

Thanks, I like reading the German when I already know what it says.
And I like the reader with her dirty coat. Here's my current favorite, by Elizabeth Bishop, who died in the 70s.

Sonnet

I am in need of music that would flow
Over my fretful, feeling fingertips
Over my trembling, bitter-tainted lips
With melody, clear, sweet, and liquid-slow.

Oh, for the healing swaying, old and low,
Of some song sung to rest the tired dead,
A song to flow like water on my head
And over quivering limbs, dream-flushed to glow.

There is a magic made by melody;
A spell of rest, and quiet breath, and cool
Heart, that sinks through fading colors deep
To the subaqueous stillness of the sea,
And floats forever in a moon-green pool,
Held in the arms of rhythm and of sleep.


Jennie

[jim stone]

Rhyme! Meter! in the last two poems,
the Rilke in German!

[Walden]

Rhyme! Meter! in the last two poems,
the Rilke in German!

I think there is too much bigotry against rhyme and meter.