from William Bronk from "Life Supports":

The Abnegation

I want to be that Tantalus, unfed
forever, that my want's agony declare
that such as we want has nothing to say the world;
if the world wants, it nothing wants for us.
Let me be unsatisfied. Hearing me scream,
spare me compassion, look instead at man,
how he takes handouts, makeshifts, sops
for creature comfort. I refuse. I will not
be less than I am to be more human, or less
than human may be to seem to be more than I am.
I want as the world wants. I am the world.

Bronk showed me a world where there can be no magic, not even routines that,
when reflected upon, are like all formulas and linguistic constructs -- in
other words empty. "The Abnegation" became my advisor: the desire of a
writer should include all genuine spiritual forces, ignoring ideal veils and
sops or patterns in the sky. It keep me from wrapping myself up in false
comforts.

Best,
Gerald Schwartz


Subject: Re: Presiding spirits


> here from Octavio Paz,
>
>
> Touch
>
> My hands
> Open the curtains of your being
> Clothe you in a further nudity
> Uncover the bodies of your body
> My hands
> Invent another body for your body
>
>
> I love the passion of the Latin poets. There is no apology for being
poetic.
> I go back and I go back.
>
>
> And here from Basho
>
>
> A branch of wild azalea
> Thrown into a bucket,
> Behind, a woman tearing
> The meat of a dried codfish
>
>
> In haiku life is poetry. Its in the seeing. Its stoping being still and
> seeing.
>
>
> Even a horse
> Is a spectacle,
> I cannot help stoping to see it
> On the morning of snow.
>
>
> There is no war in this.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Alison Croggon" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Monday, October 14, 2002 8:47 AM
> Subject: Re: Presiding spirits
>
>
> > Thanks all for the responses - they are all fascinating and there are
> > some poems I have never met before.  Keep them coming!  Yes, it is
> > very hard to choose one poem, I just went for the oldest and most
> > enduring.  I was finally very torn between Blake and Rukeyser, but I
> > met Blake first.
> >
> > Yesterday's anti-war rally was large for Melbourne - organisers said
> > 45,000, commercial tv said "more than 10,000", so I figure my
> > estimate of between 20,000 and 30,000 was about right.  A various
> > crowd, from Muslims for Peace, Jews for a Just peace, Museums against
> > War, Doctors against War, families, trade unions, the Greens, the
> > Democrats, a Labour splinter group, the usual crowd of Marxists.  I
> > was with the Actors for Refugees.  All overshadowed sombrely by the
> > bombing in Bali.  As the US rhetoric rattles up, I fear such things
> > will become more common: it lends credibility to what is now being
> > called Islamism, or fundamental Islam.  These things feed each other,
> > evil Janus faces.
> >
> > A friend wrote me yesterday quoting Plato, which seems somehow
> > relevant to both the poets and the war:
> >
> > "I suppose it is
> > profitable to their rulers that the subjects should not be great in
> > spirit or make strong friendships and unions, which things love is wont
> > to implant more than anything else. In fact, our own despots found that
> > out by experience; for the love of Aristogeiton, and the friendship of
> > Harmodios, grown strong, brought their rule to an end." and so he goes
> > on to say that these prohibitions against individual reality and feeling
> > make the laws out of "the grasping habits of the rulers and the
> > cowardice of the ruled" or "laziness of soul."
> >
> > Best to all
> >
> > Alison
> > --
> >
> >
> >
> > Alison Croggon
> > Home page
> > http://www.users.bigpond.com/acroggon/
> >
> > Masthead Online
> > http://au.geocities.com/masthead_2/
>