.
Grazing cattle on a pasture near Hrad nad Moravici in Czech Silesia: photo by Multimotyl, 2010
You look like one
Whom time has surprised,
Though the perfect sense
Of what is final,
The inmost view
From behind the past,
Beyond the long slope,
The frost and tall grass,
Is not new to you:
You’ve played along
With it once or twice
On your violio.
Paul Violi (1944-2011): Pastorale, from Overnight, 2007
Thanks for this Tom. Though I didn't see him that much in recent years, his work was always on a shelf right behind me in my office where I could reach it, and I often turned younger poets on to it. His poetry was always uniquely his own and I'm grateful for it.
ReplyDelete"His poetry was always uniquely his own"
ReplyDeleteAnd what else or more can we ever ask, Mike.
Talking of poets and gratitude, always good to hear your voice and know you remain among the living, a cast that can't really be dwindling as swiftly as sometimes seems to be the case... can it?
A man filled with grace. I photographed him for the project Larry Fagin and I are doing, and saw him from time to time. Hard to think of anyone you'd rather just be with.
ReplyDeleteTC
ReplyDeleteI feel the same about you and your good work, including here and in the books. Your presence in our diminishing world of poets from our times is reassuring, and your continuing contributions to it even more so. Ah, it's all so feckin' precious ain't it?!
M