30 Poems, Number 4

[winterbadger]

Yesterday was so annoying, I'm tempted to put up Kipling's "If"...

Instead, here is one from The Aged Poet I refer to here from time to time. In fact, as a special bonus here's a chance to hear him reading it.

I tried to piece out what it tells me, and I come back to a very simple acknowledgment of the movement of lives through time and the desire to do so while retaining a little grace and dignity. I think my mother always focused on the second stanza, reading it as a rejection of the search for meaning in place of a focus on the self. But I think that says more about her hang-ups than her friend's. His awe at the way the mantel can take the marks of time and remain beautiful, turn them into part of its beauty, his appreciation for life-worn faces, how the treasures in his drawer touch him, his memory of his father's eye--this isn't self-absorption, much less selfishness or a desire to avoid responsibility. It's an acceptance and celebration of how time changes us, changes everything, and the beauty that can come out of that.

Comments

[la-renardine.livejournal.com]

Another beauty...I do love poetry. This reminds me how aged, scarred leather and wood (and people) are often more interesting and more beautiful than that which is brand new and unmarked. Perhaps more beautiful and interesting because of their scars and wear. And the idea of a father, older man looking through a lens of trees rings (age and experience) that color and inform his every view and viewpoint. Ah...wisdom and experience, so under-appreciated; here we are reminded. And I love thinking of the passage of time not in minutes and years, but as rings on a trees, the gold sandwich of a worn watch. Thank you.

[winterbadger]

He's a wonderful poet. I'm only sorry that he's spent so much of his later career translating instead of writing himself. I'm sure he's done terrific work (Neruda apparently loved his translations), but a lot of his early writing addresses a young man's concerns (love and the loss of relationships, children and childhood); I'd love to see him write more from where he is now. But he may feel he's earned the right to put his feet up a bit, and I can't say I disagree. :-)

[la-renardine.livejournal.com]

Oh...and the title - Weathering....I just noticed. What a perfect word.

[winterbadger]

There's a nice NPR interview with him from 2004 here, where he talks about Neruda and reads a wonderful poem he translated.