UNCERTAIN OUTLOOK: In the English town of
Hastings, like many other places in Britain, residents have mixed views
on whether to remain in the European Union or not. Above, some people on
the Hastings pier look towards the French coast, which is closer to the
town than London, while others walk away.: photo by REUTERS/Luke McGregor/Reuters, 20 May 2016
It is not enough to cover the rock with leaves.
We must be cured of it by a cure of the ground
Or a cure of ourselves, that is equal to a cure
Of the ground, a cure beyond forgetfulness.
And yet the leaves, if they broke into bud,
If they broke into bloom, if they bore fruit,
And if we ate the incipient colorings
Of their fresh culls might be a cure of the ground.
The fiction of the leaves is the icon
Of the poem, the figuration of blessedness,
And the icon is the man. The pearled chaplet of spring,
The magnum wreath of summer, time's autumn snood,
Its copy of the sun, these cover the rock.
These leaves are the poem, the icon and the man.
These are a cure of the ground and of ourselves,
In the predicate that there is nothing else.
They bud and bloom and bear their fruit without change.
They are more than leaves that cover the barren rock.
They bud the whitest eye, the pallidest sprout,
New senses in the engenderings of sense,
The desire to be at the end of distances,
The body quickened and the mind in root.
They bloom as a man loves, as he lives in love.
They bear their fruit so that the year is known,
As if its understanding was brown skin,
The honey in its pulp, the final found,
The plenty of the year and of the world.
In this plenty, the poem makes meanings of the rock,
Of such mixed motion and such imagery
That its barrenness becomes a thousand things
And so exists no more. This is the cure
Of leaves and of the ground and of ourselves.
His words are both the icon and the man. Wallace Stevens (1879-1955): The Poem as Icon, 1950, from The Rock (1954)
A
relative of the victims of the EgyptAir flight 804 wipes her tears as
she is comforted by unidentified people at Charles de Gaulle Airport
outside of Paris. Egyptian aviation officials say an EgyptAir flight
from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew on board has crashed.: photo by
Michel Euler / AP, 19 May 2016
A
relative of the victims of the EgyptAir flight 804 is escorted at
Charles de Gaulle Airport. Egyptian military aircraft and navy ships
were taking part in a search operation off Egypt’s Mediterranean coast
to locate the debris of the plane.: photo by
Michel Euler / AP, 19 May 2016
An
Egyptian woman, who said her brother is among the passengers, grieves as
she leaves the Egyptair in-flight service building where relatives are
being held at Cairo International Airport. Officials say the search is
now under way for the debris.: photo by Amr Nabil / AP, 19 May 2016
A student has her hands taped before training in a Mixed
Martial Arts class at the UFC Gym in La Mirada, California: photo by Mark Ralston / AFP, 30 April 2016
South African veterinarians apply bandages and stitches
to a poached de-horned rhinoceros that was left to die by poachers on a
ranch in Bela Bela, some 150 kilometers north of Johannesburg: photo by Mujahid Safodien / AFP, 20 May 2016
A man passes closed shops at Hastings in southeast England: photo by Luke MacGregor/Reuters, 20 May 2016
A man passes closed shops at Hastings in southeast England: photo by Luke MacGregor/Reuters, 20 May 2016
Dead sardines blanket Tolten Beach in Temuco, Chile. The government has declared an emergency zone along
Chile's southern coast as it deals with the algae bloom known as red
tide, which kills fish with a toxin that paralyzes the central nervous
system. Small-scale fishermen are demanding compensation.: photo by Felix Marquez / AP, 15 May 2016
Members
of volunteer’s battalion ‘Azov’ and their supporters from various
right-wing movements burn smoke flares during a march in downtown Kiev,
Ukraine. Activists demanded banning any elections on territory
controlled by pro-Russian rebels until full observance of the Minsk
agreements and protested against a draft law to give special status to
the eastern regions locked in a conflict between the Ukrainian military
and pro-Russian separatists.: photo by Sergey Dolzhenko / EPA, 20 May 2016
Volunteers of the Azov Civil Corps light flares during rally at the Ukrainian
Parliament against holding local elections in the occupied eastern
territories of Ukraine. As part of an internationally brokered peace
agreement, Ukraine must hold local elections in two eastern regions
controlled by Russian-backed rebels, but there are major concerns about
ensuring the vote takes place in a secure and safe atmosphere: photo by Efrem Lukatsky/AP, 20 May 2016
Volunteers of the Azov Civil Corps light flares during rally at the Ukrainian
Parliament against holding local elections in the occupied eastern
territories of Ukraine. As part of an internationally brokered peace
agreement, Ukraine must hold local elections in two eastern regions
controlled by Russian-backed rebels, but there are major concerns about
ensuring the vote takes place in a secure and safe atmosphere: photo by Efrem Lukatsky/AP, 20 May 2016
Finnish
driver Jari Matti Latvala and co-driver Miikka Anttila, also from
Finland, steer their Volkswagen Polo R WRC near Caminha, during the
second stage of the Portuguese WCR rally: photo by Francisco Leong / AFP, 20 May 2016
Rescue
workers inspect a sports centre after its roof collapsed at the City
University in Hong Kong. The roof collapsed on May 20, injuring three
people and sparking panic among eyewitnesses who said it sounded like an
explosion.: photo by Dale De La Rey / AFP, 20 May 2016
South Korean policemen take part in an anti-terror and security drill at a mall in Seoul, South Korea: photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters, 20 March 2016
South Korean policemen take part in an anti-terror and security drill at a mall in Seoul, South Korea: photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters, 20 March 2016
South
Korean rescue team members wearing chemical protective suits walk past a
monster character during an anti-terror drill as part of a disaster
management exercise at the COEX shopping and exhibition centre in Seoul.
South Korea is holding its 2016 Safe Korea anti-disaster exercise this
week against terrorist threats and natural disasters.: photo by Jung Yeon-Je / AFP, 20 May 2016
Relatives
and friends of Salah Abu Laban, Sahar Qouidar, Ghassan Abu Laban and
Reem al-Sebaei, all victims of EgyptAir flight 804, grieve following
prayers for the dead, at al Thawrah Mosque in Cairo, Egypt. The plane
crashed after disappearing from radar early Thursday morning while
carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo.: photo by Amr Nabil / AP, 20 May 2016
Cuban actress Ana De Armas sits on the lap of Venezuelan
actor Edgar Ramirez among photographers during a
photo-call for the film Hands of Stone at the 69th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France: photo by Loic Venance / AFP, 16 May 2016
A
Sri Lankan man uses an inflatable tube to move through a flood-affected
area in Wellampitiya, outskirts of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Hundreds of
boats plied deep floodwaters that have inundated thousands of homes in
the Sri Lankan capital, delivering aid and rescuing the elderly and sick
from rooftops as forecasters warned of more heavy rain.: photo by Eranga
Jayawardena / AP, 20 May 2016
The scene after a massive landslide in Kegalle District,
about 72 kilometers (45 miles) north of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Massive landslides triggered by torrential rains crashed down onto
three villages in the central hills of Sri Lanka, and more than 200
families were missing Wednesday and feared to be buried under the mud
and debris, the Sri Lankan Red Cross said.: photo by Eranga Jayawardena / AP, 18 May 2016
Kenyan policemen beat a protester during clashes in
Nairobi, Kenya. Opposition protesters were calling for
election officials to step down before upcoming votes.: photo by Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
A postman wears a mask during an awards ceremony for
assisting police in drug-deal detection, in Guangzhou, Guangdong
Province, China: photo by Reuters, 18 May 2016
A toddler tied to a rock in Ahmedabad, India. Barrier
tape is tied around 15-month-old Shivani's ankle to prevent her from
running away, while her mother Sarta Kalara works at a construction site
nearby. Kalara says she has no option but to tether
her daughter Shivani to a stone despite her crying, while she and her
husband work for 250 rupees (USD $3.80) each per shift, digging holes
for electricity cables in the city of Ahmedabad. There are about 40
million construction workers in India, at least one in five of them
women, and the majority are poor migrants who shift from site to site,
building infrastructure for India's booming cities. Across the country
it is not uncommon to see young children rolling in the sand and mud as
their parents carry bricks, or dig for new roads or luxury houses.: photo by Amit Dave / Reuters, 19 April 2016
Children
cool themselves during a hot summer day in Jammu, India. The prolonged
heat wave this year has already killed hundreds and destroyed crops in
more than 13 states, impacting hundreds of millions of Indians.: photo by Channi
Anand / AP, 20 May 2016
Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, Barbados’ Ramos Gittens and Lesotho’s Mosito
Lehata compete in the men’s 100m race at the IAAF Ostrava Golden Spike
athletics meeting, Ostrava, Czech Republic: photo by David W Cerny/Reuters, 20 May 2016
Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, Barbados’ Ramos Gittens and Lesotho’s Mosito
Lehata compete in the men’s 100m race at the IAAF Ostrava Golden Spike
athletics meeting, Ostrava, Czech Republic: photo by David W Cerny/Reuters, 20 May 2016
Opposition supporters affected by tear gas try to leave
on a motorcycle. The supporters clashed with riot policemen during a
rally demanding a referendum to remove Venezuela's President Nicolas
Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela.: photo by Marco Bello / Reuters, 18 May 2016
A boy illuminates his home with candlelight during a
24-hour blackout, in the El Calvario neighborhood of El Hatillo, just
outside of Caracas, Venezuela: photo by Fernando Llano / AP, 20 May 2016
Airport security staff stand near the EgyptAir counter at Charles de
Gaulle Airport. Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said it was too
early to say whether a technical problem or a terror attack caused the
plane to crash.: photo by Raphael Satter/AP, 19 May 2016
Devotees pull the chariot of Rato Machhindranath during
the chariot festival in Lalitpur, Nepal. Rato
Machhindranath is known as the god of rain, and both Hindus and
Buddhists worship Machhindranath for good rain to prevent drought during
the rice harvest season.: photo by Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters, 17 May 2016
Tom, Stevens working his magic in these poems from The Rock -- "The desire to be at the end of distances, // The body quickened and the mind in root." What would he think of the photos posted here -- and have to say about what's going on in the world these days?
Steve, as to that latter question, and indeed possibly also as to the former, I expect there would have issued from the #1 surety claims expert of his epoch an extended series of dyspeptic eruptions of seismic proportions, destabilizing the entire industry.
But who cares about industry. As a schoolchild I was taken upon many a field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry. And where have science and industry, in their wisdom, landed us now, I esk ya.
These late poems, I imagine him not sleeping well, troubled. Restless, for all his achievements and privilege. Looking for that elusive cure, not finding it.
The toxic rock can't be covered with a fig leaf. The man is not a poem is not an icon.
This desire to make meanings of what cannot be made meanings of.
This attempt to identify.
This barrenness that can become a thousand things.
This hollow plenty.
This poorly concealed disappointment.
The late poems bring together the finally opposing facts of imagination and world at last.
The imagination was never going to win that one.
The poignancy of its defeat, touching.
The poet who is the last link (possibly only) between our poetry and the central poetry of the language from which ours evolves. So near and yet so far.
New senses in the engenderings of sense, The desire to be at the end of distances...
Tom,
ReplyDeleteStevens working his magic in these poems from The Rock -- "The desire to be at the end of distances, // The body quickened and the mind in root." What would he think of the photos posted here -- and have to say about what's going on in the world these days?
Steve, as to that latter question, and indeed possibly also as to the former, I expect there would have issued from the #1 surety claims expert of his epoch an extended series of dyspeptic eruptions of seismic proportions, destabilizing the entire industry.
ReplyDeleteBut who cares about industry. As a schoolchild I was taken upon many a field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry. And where have science and industry, in their wisdom, landed us now, I esk ya.
These late poems, I imagine him not sleeping well, troubled. Restless, for all his achievements and privilege. Looking for that elusive cure, not finding it.
The toxic rock can't be covered with a fig leaf. The man is not a poem is not an icon.
This desire to make meanings of what cannot be made meanings of.
This attempt to identify.
This barrenness that can become a thousand things.
This hollow plenty.
This poorly concealed disappointment.
The late poems bring together the finally opposing facts of imagination and world at last.
The imagination was never going to win that one.
The poignancy of its defeat, touching.
The poet who is the last link (possibly only) between our poetry and the central poetry of the language from which ours evolves. So near and yet so far.
New senses in the engenderings of sense,
The desire to be at the end of distances...
Is anyone (but us) still listening?
Tom---that is such a brilliant take on the poem. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tom and yes, "This desire to make meanings of what cannot be made meanings of." And lest we forget, "One must have a mind of winter . . . "
ReplyDelete