Poet of the Month

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zooropamanda

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Im trying to broaden my horizons and get into reading works of poets I haven't read before.
I thought a cool thing we could do is someone can choose a "poet of the month" with a few links to sites of their work online and book titles and then the rest of us could check them out and come back and discuss.

MIB got me very interested in Sylvia Plath from a quote he had in his sig a while ago and I was thinking how its interesting that we get exposed to artists' work that we may not have ordinarily.

Anyone think this is a good idea and if so, would you want to participate?

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*I am a cowgirl of funk*
 
yes, it's an excellent idea, today's poet of the month is...

Amy Lowell

"Grotesque"

Why do the lilies goggle their tongues at me
When I pluck them;
And writhe, and twist,
And strangle themselves against my fingers,
So that I can hardly weave the garland
For your hair?
Why do they shriek your name
And spit at me
When I would cluster them?
Must I kill them
To make them lie still,
And send you a wreath of lolling corpses
To turn putrid and soft
On your forehead
While you dance?


-1919

"Opal"

You are ice and fire,
The touch of you burns my hands like snow.
You are cold and flame.
You are the crimson of amaryllis,
The silver of moon-touched magnolias.
When I am with you,
My heart is a frozen pond
Gleaming with agitated torches.


-1919

I don't feel like typing any of her more elaborate poems, these are just a couple of quickies, I wonder if anyone else besides me interprets the 1st as being a poem about... well I won't say just yet

forgive me, I have a fascination with female American poets of the 20th Century
 
Good idea.

Wanderer, the first poem, Grotesque, seemed to me like a poem of betrayal. That's my very immediate impression, I'll have to come back to it another time.

foray
 
that's an awesome idea Manda!!

I would name Robinson Jeffers if Wanderer hadn't already named one..
I just read two of his poems today, one called Evening Ebb and the other Six Boats in Fog (I think) and I absolutely loved them. I just did a google search on him and there's a few poems of his online that I found plus a lot of biography stuff.

So I'll get back to you guys when I learn more, or maybe one of you knows/likes his poetry?
 
here I copied this one down today so I could post it for you guys.

Evening Ebb

The ocean has not been so quiet for a long while; five night herons
Fly shorelong voiceless in the hush of the air
Over the calm of an ebb that almost mirrors their wings.
The sun has gone down, and the water has gone down
From the weed-clad rock, but the distant cloud-wall rises. The ebb whispers.
Great cloud-shadows float in the opal water.
Through rifts in the screen of the world pale gold gleams, and the evening
star suddenly glides like a flying torch.
As if we had not been meant to see her; rehearsing behind
The screen of the world for another audience.
-Robinson Jeffers


I just love poetry that makes me feel small.
but now back to Amy Lowell...

I only see the basic comparison between..well, I took the narrator to be male..between women and the flowers, and the relationship between the 'you' and the narrator but I am horrible at interpreting poetry without any guidance. These two lines confuse me:

Why do they shriek your name
And spit at me


I think they could bring a whole other dimension to the poem, possibly the betrayal fors was talking about?
I'll find more of her stuff and read it eventually because Ive never heard of her but I enjoyed both of those poems a lot.
 
lol Salome, I was just wondering about this thread. but we never discussed the first poet!! ( I haven't even read any yet
redface.gif
)
 
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