Missed the weekend's posts shoveling snow.
But this, Fred, while it makes sense to me does not make poetry, except
perhaps for the final 17 lines, & maybe just the final 7. Rexroth's
nature poems seem to me to be far more 'sacred' (let's not get into
'religious'), partly because the language doesnt drift into those large
abstractions...
Doug
On 18-Mar-06, at 9:09 PM, Frederick Pollack wrote:
> I like Murray's work very much, but it depends on his persona, that of
> a shrewd querulous clown. The ideas - especially the doctrinal ones -
> wouldn't stand on their own, without the persona. The major issue, I
> think, is whether there is a poetry of moral seriousness and
> metaphysical speculation that is non-religious, atheistic, or
> anti-religious. Here's a poem of Kenneth Rexroth, American, which is
> one of my favorites. It's the second part of his "They Say This Isn't
> A Poem."
>
> The order of the universe
> Is only a reflection
> Of the human will and reason.
> All being is contingent,
> No being is self-subsistent.
> All objects are moved by others.
> No object moves itself.
> All beings are caused by others.
> No being is its own cause.
> There is no perfect being.
> Being has no economy.
> Entities are multiplied
> Without necessity. They
> Have no sufficient reason.
> The only order of nature
> Is the orderly relation
> Of one person to another.
> Non-personal relations
> Are by nature chaotic.
> Personal relations are
> The pattern through which we see
> Nature as systematic.
> Homer, and all sensible
> Men since, have told us again
> And again, the universe -
> The great principles and forces
> That move the world - have order
> Only as a reflection
> Of the courage, loyalty,
> Love, and honesty of men.
> By themselves they are cruel
> And utterly frivolous.
> The man who yields to them goes mad,
> Kills his child, his wife or firend
> And dies in the bloody dust,
> Having destroyed the treasured
> Labor of other men's hands.
> He who outwits them survives
> To grow old in his own home.
>
Douglas Barbour
11655 - 72 Avenue NW
Edmonton Ab T6G 0B9
(780) 436 3320
What’s received’s given out
in smaller measure. The speaker as hearer
comprehends what he can’t
say, a music of what sounds him.
Wayne Clifford
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