The RetroLounge Daily Poem Thread (Sat 12/30/06)

[RetroLounge]

Larkin

What the average sensual man cannot forgive
Or triumph over, slowly he forgets;
By thirty-five or so begins to live
With the faint metal taste of choked regret
Flavoring every swallow. For romance
He'll never find with girls he'll never meet,
And plutocratic ease in the south of France,
And the shouted homage of a trembling street,
He learns in time to substitute a wife,
Two weeks' vacation, the "respect of peers":
The prolonged catastrophe we call a life
Instead of the coming true of our worst fears.
If genius is to carry the pristine
Shock of perception to the bitter last,
There was no purer genius: philistine,
Uncompromising, foul mouth stuffed with rust.

Adam Kirsch


***************


RL

If you have a request for a certain Poet, post their name in the thread and I will find a poem by them and post it...

if you want to see some of my poetry, see the blog at:
http://www.myspace.com/retropaul

[Wetzelbill]

1. I'd be down with seeing some Audre Lorde or maybe Frank O' Hara

at some point.

You know, I've been digging some of my stuff lately. My professor thinks I should do something with a few of my latest. Typically, I do not like my poetry all that much. I think it's ok, but I am much more of a prose guy. Been liking my latest stuff though. Might put together a short book of poetry one of these days. Maybe 40 pages or something. Not much, but I'd consider doing it.

So how's your book coming along?

[Wetzelbill]

2. I should add: "foul mouth stuffed with rust"

is a very cool line. :)

[Callalily]

3. What a sad, sad

poem RL, but so true in far too many lives.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. My dear Retro...........

How good this is!

I see how he works the life of a man.........

The vision vs. the reality......

Here he brings his ideas into very sharp focus:

The prolonged catastrophe we call a life
Instead of the coming true of our worst fears.

How beautiful, and also how tragic, this is!

Thank you, as always, my dear.........:hug: