Ramble On: Issa's Sunday Service, #28

This week's LitRock entry on Issa's Sunday Service puts some of the rock back in the lit. Led Zeppelin offered many a gift to the first wave of serious Lord of the Rings maniacs stateside and none is arguably better than "Ramble On." Lyrics and music blend nicely into an infectious little number that bears up under repeated playings.

Here's a bonus video of Plant and Page performing a tasty version from 1995.






This week's Lilliput poem comes from issue #49, which was featured in a post previously this year. #42 was a homage issue, where poets got to have their say about idols, influences, and various imps of an impressionable nature. What follows is a real treat, Lilliput-wise: one of the many "Brobdingnag Feature Poems" that have appeared in the mag over the years. What is a Brobdingnag Feature Poem? Well simply put, it is a poem that goes beyond the normal 10 line limit for Lillie. One of the two forthcoming issues, which should see the light of day in December, will showcase #57 in the Brobdingnag series. So it is rather obvious that, though the mag is all about the size-challenged, sometimes my lack of math skills is readily apparent. This poem by Carl Mayfield is an outstanding little number; though it helps to know the work of Philip Larkin, it isn't totally necessary to appreciate how finely articulated and philosophically grounded my long-time correspondent Carl is.



To Philip Larkin

You spoke across the Atlantic
of high windows, of undiminished
youth living elsewhere--
lines of darkness too true
to be upstaged by any poet--
you, me, the saxophone player.
You were the genius
of what didn't happen,
conversant with the impulse
to notice the color of the sun
but fail to see the radiance.
You avoided being duped
by flesh and blood,
watched the light come up
wherever you were,
and the life go down
in your willingness to breathe.
You said you didn't know more
as you grew older, but who does?
Death takes the lot of us
and lets the wind decide who was tallest.
You exchanged your life
for the truth, only to discover
there is more truth
than there is life.
Ah Philip, so many years
of honesty, so many words
writ on water--is your soul
any lighter because you did it so well?

Carl Mayfield

And one from the master, a tad more succinct:





entrusting the thicket
to the field crow...
the lark sings

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,
Don

Issa, Brautigan, and an Interview

A couple of quick notes before tomorrow's weekly posting. I found this wonderful Issa poem, translated by Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto, here:

http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2008/08/25/
kobayashi-issa-where-there-are-humans/

For those inclined to spiritual poetry, Poetry Chaikhana seems to be a delightful blog, well worth exploring.

Also found this morning a great list, though I'm not sure great for the intended reason, entitled Ten Poems to Read When You Get Stuffed in Your Locker (I actually saw a fellow student stuffed into his locker by the principal, at a Catholic high school, no less). This is a list of really wonderful poems and, though I'd like to think students would be into John Clare and Michael Ryan's take on things "Larkinesque", I'm thinking, um, maybe not. In any case, this is a wonderful selection of fine poems (ok, the J. V. Cunningham poem addressed to a 30 year old may not be for the locker-stuffed crowd) for nearly everyone. I was particularly delighted to find Richard Brautigan, who seems to continue to grab the younger crowd as he did "in the day" so many years ago:



I Feel Horrible. She Doesn't

I feel horrible. She doesn't
love me and I wander around
the house like a sewing machine
that's just finished sewing
a turd to a garbage lid.

Richard Brautigan

Maybe not the type of picaresque image one evokes first thing in the morning, but the locker-stuffed crowd can definitely relate. Berryman's "Dream Song 14" is also a humdinger. Check out the list; you won't be disappointed.

Finally, the Poet Hound blog has interviewed me and posted the results. I'll have to leave it to you as to how it all came out; my eyes are still covered. It's hard for me to believe folks would be interested but PH was very gracious and accommodating of my predilections and peccadilloes. I'd like to thank them for spreading the good word(s). A website designed for poets themselves, PH connects folks up with resources and interviews various poets, writers and publishers who go about "the business" of poetry, as well as providing sample poems from around the net and notices of the many poetry markets out there.

Ok, I'm peeking through my fingers now ...



best,
Don

PS 140 Near Perfect Books of Poetry and counting ...