One question to ask is does the poem fit the event?; I mean the level of
intensity, energy, talent and imagination that these events can bear.
Reminds me of the kind of marriage of conformity and formality that
informs poetry (actually every) event after poetry event here in
official Washington. Anyone who placed real demands on the poet and
poetry simply ceased to be invited after a couple of breaches of
protocol. CP
Liz Kirby wrote:
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ram Devineni [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2001 5:09 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: PK Page's poem selected to be read at the UN and on Mt. Everest
>
> Hello Everyone: Ms. Marilyn Hacker has selected the
> poem which will be read in celebration of the
> "Dialogue Among Civilizations Through Poetry" program
> at the UN, Mt. Everest, Antarctica and the West
> Philippines Sea. The poem is "Planet Earth" by
> Canadian poet P.K. (Patricia Kathleen) Page. The poem
> is taken from Ms Page's collection, "The Hidden Room"
> (in two volumes), published by The Porcupine's Quill
> in 1997. www.sentex.net/~pql . The poem was
> suggested by Susan MacRae.
>
> **********
>
> Planet Earth
>
> It has to be spread out, the skin of this planet,
> has to be ironed, the sea in its whiteness;
> and the hands keep on moving,
> smoothing the holy surfaces.
>
> In Praise of Ironing Pablo Neruda
>
> It has to be loved the way a laundress loves her
> linens,
> the way she moves her hands caressing the fine muslins
> knowing their warp and woof,
> like a lover coaxing, or a mother praising.
> It has to be loved as if it were embroidered
> with flowers and birds and two joined hearts upon it.
> It has to be stretched and stroked.
> It has to be celebrated.
> O this great beloved world and all the creatures in
> it.
> <i> It has to be spread out, the skin of this planet.
> </i>
>
> The trees must be washed, and the grasses and mosses.
> They have to be polished as if made of green brass.
> The rivers and little streams with their hidden
> cresses
> and pale-coloured pebbles
> and their fool's gold
> must be washed and starched or shined into brightness,
> the sheets of lake water
> smoothed with the hand
> and the foam of the oceans pressed into neatness.
> <i> It has to be ironed, the sea in its whiteness.
> </i>
> and pleated and goffered, the flower-blue sea
> the protean, wine-dark, grey, green, sea
> with its metres of satin and bolts of brocade.
> And sky - such an 0! overhead - night and day
> must be burnished and rubbed
> by hands that are loving
> so the blue blazons forth
> and the stars keep on shining
> within and above
> <i> and the hands keep on moving.</i>
>
> It has to be made bright, the skin of this planet
> till it shines in the sun like gold leaf.
> Archangels then will attend to its metals
> and polish the rods of its rain.
> Seraphim will stop singing hosannas
> to shower it with blessings and blisses and praises
> and, newly in love,
> we must draw it and paint it
> our pencils and brushes and loving caresses
> <i> smoothing the holy surfaces.</i>
>
> -- P.K. (Patricia Kathleen) Page
>
> Note: <i> indicates italics
> -----------
> P. K. Page was born in England and brought up on the
> Canadian prairies. She was out of the country for many
> years with her diplomat-husband, Arthur Irwin, and now
> lives in Victoria, British Columbia. She is the author
> of more than a dozen books of poetry, fiction, and
> non-fiction, including three books for children. Among
> other honours, she has won the Governor General's
> Award for poetry for "The Metal and the Flower"
> (1954). She is also a visual artist whose works are
> represented in The National Gallery of Canada and The
> Art Gallery of Ontario.
>
> P. K. Page is an Officer of the "Order of Canada," and
> holds honourary doctorates from four Canadian
> universities. The Winter 1996 number of The Malahat
> Review is a tribute to her life and work.
>
> =====
> I am closing this account.
> Please send future emails to
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>
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