OT: Will poetry become a new phenom?

[gone]

Although far better to watch her recite it, here is the text. Beautiful words powerfully delivered:

When day comes we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade? The loss we carry, a sea we must wade. We’ve braved the belly of the beast. We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace. In the norms and notions of what just is isn’t always justice.

And yet, the dawn is ours before we knew it. Somehow, we do it. Somehow, we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished. We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one.

And yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine, but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect. We are striving to forge our union with purpose, to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man.

And so, we lift our gazes not to what stands between us, but what stands before us. We close the divide because we know, to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside. We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another. We seek harm to none and harmony for all. Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true. That even as we grieved, we grew. That even as we hurt, we hoped; that even as we tired, we tried; that we’ll forever be tied together, victorious. Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division.

Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid. If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory won’t lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we’ve made. That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb if only we dare it. Because being American is more than a pride we inherit; it’s the past we step into and how we repair it. We’ve seen a forest that would shatter our nation rather than share it, would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy. And this effort very nearly succeeded.

But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated. In this truth, in this faith we trust, for while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us. This is the era of just redemption. We feared it at its inception. We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour, but within it, we found the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves.

So, while once we asked: “How could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?” Now we assert, “How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?”

We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be: a country that is bruised, but whole; benevolent, but bold; fierce and free. We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation, because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation. Our blunders become their burdens. But one thing is certain, if we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy, and change our children’s birthright.

So, let us leave behind a country better than one we were left. With every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one. We will rise from the gold-limned hills of the West. We will rise from the wind-swept Northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution. We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states. We will rise from the sunbaked South. We will rebuild, reconcile and recover in every known nook of our nation, in every corner called our country our people diverse and beautiful will emerge battered and beautiful.

When day comes, we step out of the shade aflame and unafraid. The new dawn blooms as we free it. For there is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.

— Amanda Gorman

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

As an English major in college, some twenty odd years ago, I read a lot of poetry - gobs of it.. The tough thing is so much modern poetry is just unapproachable word-vomit.....obscure for the sake of obscurity. At its best, poetry conveys feelings and emotions through the calculated use of language in a way that prose has a hard time approaching. It stops you and makes you think. Over the years my poetry reading has gravitated more to the spiritual side of things - poets who are communicating universal truths about the nature of reality and humans' place in the cosmos..... that's a deep vein to mine that travels across cultures and millennia. Mary Oliver to Basho. Han Shan and Hafiz. Whitman and Ginsberg. And Snyder. And Rupi Kuar, who I guess you could say is Amanda Gorman's contemporary - another poet who is not hung up on convention but more is using the medium as a way to connect and ennoble. I dig it.

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And this, too...

Of all the speakers I saw, the young poet was (by far) the most compelling. Not sure what that says.

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by NHAero

I too was a creative writing major in college (and fortunately got the engineering degree too, a bad poet's gotta eat!) Dan, you and I read eye to eye on our poets!

“This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.” – Mary Oliver

That's too funny. I did a couple years of engineering before switching to english - and I still eat! But not on my words.... well, actually I do, but not the creative ones ..the ones that cover engineering. I took one technical writing class early in my engineering pre-reqs - and hated it. And now here I am more or less a technical writer. Life is funny that way. You can't stop what's coming. It ain't waiting on you. That's vanity.

There are too many to list of course - here's Wendell anyway - it's one that could be read and written from the saddle - and maybe that's why I like it so much.

--

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Wendell Berry, The Peace of Wild Things

[William]

Tomorrow night we're sneaking out and meeting at the cave. Bring your favorites, and a flashlight, snacks optional (no half eaten buns).


See you there! ~DPS~




M.






.

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by William

Tomorrow night we're sneaking out and meeting at the cave. Bring your favorites, and a flashlight, snacks optional (no half eaten buns).


See you there! ~DPS~




M.






.

I've never seen you in person, but I've long suspected you're a sweaty-toothed madman.....

[OtayBW]

I've always admired the work by a lot of the Beats in the 50s-60s. In particular Gary Snyder who essentially introduced Buddhism to the Beats and was the character of Japhy Ryder in Kerouac's Dharma Bums. Beyond that, I have been a big fan of various translations of ~16thC Haiku poets/monks.

[eddief]

a new way.

A favorite of mine from my hipper days written by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and included in his collection - A Coney Island of The Mind.

"Johnny Nolan has a patch on his ass"

Kids chase him
thru screendoor summers

Thru the back streets
of all my memories


Somewhere a man laments
upon a violin

A doorstep baby cries
and cries again
like
a
ball
bounced
down steps

Which helps the afternoon arise again
to a moment of remembered hysteria

"Johnny Nolan has a patch on his ass"

Kids chase him

[Spaghetti Legs]

I happened to catch the Anderson Cooper interview with her last night. She's as engaging an off the cuff speaker as she is reciter of poetry. Impressive young lady.

[NHAero]

I do not know if Galway Kinnell was a Buddhist:

Prayer, by Galway Kinnell

Whatever happens. Whatever
what is is is what
I want. Only that. But that.

[William]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

I've never seen you in person, but I've long suspected you're a sweaty-toothed madman.....

M.

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by OtayBW

I've always admired the work by a lot of the Beats in the 50s-60s. In particular Gary Snyder who essentially introduced Buddhism to the Beats and was the character of Japhy Ryder in Kerouac's Dharma Bums. Beyond that, I have been a big fan of various translations of ~16thC Haiku poets/monks.

I strongly recommend Bill Porter, aka. Red Pine, for plumbing these depths...

https://www.coppercanyonpress.org/authors/bill-porter/

His translations of Chinese poetry reflect his deep understanding of Zen and the Buddhadharma more broadly. He approaches them with the humility of a true master.

His travelogue books on the Zen poets and hermits are incredible as well: Road to Heaven and Zen Baggage. As are his translations of key Buddhist texts, most notably the Lankavatara Sutra, which, atmo, is one of the most useful and direct teachings of mahayana buddhism out there - and it reads like poetry.

My wife grew up in his hometown, and I had the opportunity to talk with him for a bit at one of his readings, coming up on a decade ago (wow, time flies) - he's just generally a great guy, a little wild around the edges but also grounded and genuine. Worth looking up his work if you haven't so far.

[XXtwindad]

Fantastic thread!

On topic: show us your bad bike poetry! Here’s a little ode to level top tubes I dug up from the archives:

It offends my eyes you see,
The sloping top tube is far too twee.

I will not ride a sloping top tube over hill or dale,
Neither on pavement nor trail.

It is an aesthetic disgrace,
A marketing ploy made far too common place.

Its ascendancy remains a mystery,
May good taste prevail
And relegate it to the dustbin of history.

[joosttx]

Originally Posted by XXtwindad

Fantastic thread!

On topic: show us your bad bike poetry! Here’s a little ode to level top tubes I dug up from the archives:

It offends my eyes you see,
The sloping top tube is far too twee.

I will not ride a sloping top tube over hill or dale,
Neither on pavement nor trail.

It is an aesthetic disgrace,
A marketing ploy made far too common place.

Its ascendancy remains a mystery,
May good taste prevail
And relegate it to the dustbin of history.

I think you should start your own thread instead of usurping one that is interesting. I’m not really into the intellectual-banality movement.

[tuxbailey]

I was thoroughly mesmerized when she started to recite. That was just impressive, specially for one who had overcome speech impediments.

[texbike]

Originally Posted by Bob Ross

her delivery was astonishing. Poetry may or may not become a new phenom, but Amanda Gorman most certainly will. I would listen to her recite the phonebook.

Indeed! This will not be the last that we hear from her.

Originally Posted by Clean39T

As an English major in college, some twenty odd years ago, I read a lot of poetry - gobs of it.. The tough thing is so much modern poetry is just unapproachable word-vomit.....obscure for the sake of obscurity. At its best, poetry conveys feelings and emotions through the calculated use of language in a way that prose has a hard time approaching. It stops you and makes you think. Over the years my poetry reading has gravitated more to the spiritual side of things - poets who are communicating universal truths about the nature of reality and humans' place in the cosmos..... that's a deep vein to mine that travels across cultures and millennia. Mary Oliver to Basho. Han Shan and Hafiz. Whitman and Ginsberg. And Snyder. And Rupi Kuar, who I guess you could say is Amanda Gorman's contemporary - another poet who is not hung up on convention but more is using the medium as a way to connect and ennoble. I dig it.

.

In school, my education was focused on business, but creative writing and story-telling were always near and dear to my heart. However, outside of dirty limericks, I never focused heavily on poetry.

Once there was a man from Nantucket
He wanted to write poems and lit,
but couldn't find the words,
decided that this is for the birds,
and just said xxxx it!

Now you can see why my focus was on business as opposed to something more intellectual. Thank God we have Amanda Gormans in the world to take up the slack!

Texbike