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.
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