I haven't yet posted anything by one of my very dearest poets, Laura Riding, who in time will come to be known as one of the greatest and truest poets/writers/philosophers of the twentieth century. Her influence is still somewhat secret, but vast. The best ones are mostly the long ones, and sometime, I will do the ritual of typing one of those up, but here below I post two things-- one, a couple of stanzas from a long poem, Benediction, and the other, a short intense poem that everyone who has really worked hard on making a poem will understand: Celebration of Failure...
A while ago I posted a poem and wrote something on Riding for the minstrels poetry list. Here is the link to that: http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1060.html -- an update to which, I now know for sure Robert Graves' indebtedness to her: he credited her with introducing him to modernism. (from Benediction) ... Now, having seen, let our eyes close And a dark blessing pass among us-- A quick-slow blessing to have seen And said and done no worse or better. ... Slowly be true as slowly you were false. By falseness you were, By your falseness I was false: I was. Slowly be no more, nor I. Celebration of Failure Through pain the land of pain, Through tender exiguity, Through cruel self-suspicion: Thus came I to this inch of wholeness. It was a promise. After pain, I said, An inch will be what never a boasted mile. And haughty judgement, That frowned upon a faultless plan, Now smiles upon this crippled execution, And my dashed beauty praises me. -- You are encouraged to post poetry, respond critically to the poems circulated and participate in discussions. To post, email your message to [email protected] OR post online at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTPoets/post/ Tell friends to subscribe to ZESTPoets by sending a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED], OR, if they have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTPoets/join/ ---theZESTcommunity-------------- [1] ZESTCurrent: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCurrent/ [2] ZESTEconomics: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTEconomics/ [3] ZESTGlobal: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTGlobal/ [4] ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/ [5] ZESTPoets: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTPoets/ [6] ZESTCaste: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ [7] ZESTAlternative: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTAlternative/ [8] TalkZEST: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TalkZEST/ --- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTPoets/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
