The BlueIris Semi-Nightly Poem Thread, 9/24/07

[BlueIris]

"Coming of Age, 1966"

When I came to sex in full, not sex
by fits and starts, but day and night,
when I lived with him, I thought I could go crazy
with shock and awe. In Latin class,
my jaw would go slack, when I would remember
the night, the morning, the in, the out, the
in, the long torso of the beloved
lowered, lifted, lowered. When he wasn't
there, when he worked 36 On,
8 Off, 36 On, 8 Off,
I’d sit myself down to memorize Latin
so as not to go mad—my brain felt
like a planet gone oval, wobbling out of
orbit, pulling toward a new ellipsis,
I learned a year of Latin in a month,
aced the test, made love, wept, when he was
working all night I’d believe that a burglar might be
climbing the wall outside my window,
palm to the stone rosette, toe on the
granite frond, like the prowler who'd scaled the first
storey next door, been peeled from the wall
and kicked in the head. And every time
I tried to write of the body's gifts,
the child with her clothes burned off by napalm
ran into the poem screaming. I was
a Wasp child of the suburbs, I felt
cheated by Lyndon Johnson, robbed of my
entrance into the erotic, my birthright
of ease and pleasure. I understood almost
nothing of the world, but I knew that I was
connected to the girl running, her arms
out to the sides, like a plucked heron, I was
responsible for her, and helpless to reach her,
like the man on the sidewalk, his arms up
around his head, and all I did
was memorize Latin, and make love, and sometimes
march, my heart aching with righteousness.

—Sharon Olds

[BlueIris]

1. If people don't like this poem, I will cry. CRY.

[ThomCat]

2. Please don't do that.

:)

I'm not sure how well she made the transition between talking about a time in her life and talking about a time in history. It's good, but I feel like this one needs to be polished a bit.

[BlueIris]

3. Thom, I can't believe you once posted here that you weren't confident about your ability

to appreciate and critique poetry. You obviously have quite an eye for it.

[ThomCat]

4. Thank you.

:)

I don't have much to say about most poetry. I'm not confident that I really have anything to say. But I'm willing to speak up and say it anyway. :P

[vlas]

7. I really like this poem

Thanks for posting it

[BlueIris]

9. Hey! Thanks for reading.

[wildhorses]

5. a real disconnect....yet a connection

hard to get the juxtaposition just right. still, there is an ache there. another one of your young poets?

[BlueIris]

6. Um, no. Sharon Olds has published 7 books of poems (plus selected poems)

since 1980. She's quite famous. No idea when this was composed. It actually feels like it came from her more mature years as a writer, though.

[wildhorses]

8. thanks for introducing me to her.

i don't think i ever heard of her before.

[BlueIris]

17. Well, admittedly, she's not everyone's cup of tea.

Some people have the reaction you did to most of her writing, which I love and find technically innovative. Her critics have called her writing sloppy and childish. I was just shocked that someone here thought this was a poem written by a teenager! I tend to be blind to the flaws of poets I love.

[wildhorses]

18. that is really not what i meant

i like the poem. there is a line i would have left out. perhaps, a word here or there. i write very sparse, stark...
you have posted some excellent stuff by teens...this has the flavor of a young 20-25 to me. thats all.

[txwhitedove]

10. As one who came of age in that certain era, it speaks to me.

Thank you.

[RetroLounge]

11. Sharon Olds is one of my favorites!

Thanks!

RL

[Perseid]

12. Older Angels

Many times walk and talk
too slowly
for those who watch and refuse
to wait
for change

Older angels
sometimes wander about
too slowly
for those
who wonder and want
change

sometimes

sometimes

I wonder

and enjoy walking slowly.
and waiting for change

many times

(bozo. 2007. Top of head.)

[BlueIris]

13. Nice!

[Perseid]

14. kick

yesterday and everyday somebody seems to be talking 'bout being right, left, up, down
green brown upside down
who is doing what now who is doing who how who's talking to the brown cow
jumping the moon
do it soon because we're tired and wired and fried and
have been tried and true
I would jump a jumbo moon - soon
every time I look left I see someone
who is green and brown and upside down
looking around
jump the moon
it's a tried and true way
do it soon

(ooh, that's bad. top of the head)

at least there's a KICK

[Perseid]

15. old friends

Words & music by paul simon

Old friends,
Old friends
Sat on their park bench
Like bookends.
A newspaper blown though the grass
Falls on the round toes
Of the high shoes
Of the old friends.

Old friends,
Winter companions,
The old men
Lost in their overcoats,
Waiting for the sunset.
The sounds of the city,
Sifting through trees,
Settle like dust
On the shoulders
Of the old friends.

Can you imagine us
Years from today,
Sharing a park bench quietly?
How terribly strange
To be seventy.
Old friends,
Memory brushes the same years
Silently sharing the same fears

[BlueIris]

16. Thanks!