tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post374317821608640098..comments2024-01-28T03:56:39.351-08:00Comments on TOM CLARK: Blue Evening on Poetry StreetUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-57623549397001359862010-11-24T05:25:09.865-08:002010-11-24T05:25:09.865-08:00To those who come late upon this post, there may a...To those who come late upon this post, there may appear some mystery as to why Witter Bynner is being discussed in the comments. It's because this post originally included a photo of the Witter Bynner poetry slab from Poetry Street.<br /><br />A while after the post went up, there were some cranky noises from the Grand Eminences involved with this project, evidently distressed that I indicated some dismay over having my poem "set in stone" with a dumb typo incorporated.<br /><br />Berkeley, town of Kindness and Caring. <br /><br />And then...the image of the Witter Bynner slab mysteriously disappeared.<br /><br />In its place I have put up an image of another poem-slab, this one from Larry Eigner.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-62154974327638188102010-02-22T18:41:57.301-08:002010-02-22T18:41:57.301-08:00That's interesting. An Ocelot. I really neve...That's interesting. An Ocelot. I really never knew what kind of cat it was. I'll have to check it out.Christine Younghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12040832137949636403noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-63837846442683966832010-02-22T04:12:48.510-08:002010-02-22T04:12:48.510-08:00Christine,
I'm no naturalist, but I do love c...Christine,<br /><br />I'm no naturalist, but I do love cats, and my guess is that that one of yours is an ocelot.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-9497999966298689722010-02-21T12:50:33.157-08:002010-02-21T12:50:33.157-08:00Thank you Tom. Don't you just love that cat? ...Thank you Tom. Don't you just love that cat? She (I think of the cat as a she) has soulful eyes. I found her on the internet years ago and I copied and pasted her on to my old AOL homepage. I’ve had her ever since. The AOL homepage fell into an abyss of some sort, but I was smart enough to put the kitty on my hard drive.<br /><br />Thank you for stopping by my blog. It is my first Blog. I have so much that I have written in a file cabinet that I am now endeavoring to put on line. Also, I have a lot to learn about blogging and navigating the wide world of the net. <br /><br />My favorite book of poetry is The Best Loved Poems of the American People and my favorite poem to date is Longfellow's The Day Is Done.<br /><br />“Then read from the treasured volume <br />The poem of thy choice, <br />And lend to the rhyme of the poet<br />The beauty of thy voice.<br /><br />“And the night shall be filled with music, <br />And the cares, that infest the day, <br />Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs, <br />And as silently steal away.”Christine Younghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12040832137949636403noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-79235057302095348152010-02-21T09:06:34.904-08:002010-02-21T09:06:34.904-08:00Steve,
Well, this makes me think of the title of ...Steve,<br /><br />Well, this makes me think of the title of our friend UV Ray's blog, Writing from the Fringes... and there was also Beyond the Fringe, as I recall.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-5497526637299549222010-02-21T07:43:16.870-08:002010-02-21T07:43:16.870-08:00Tom,
Yes, I've been there and seen it -- in f...Tom,<br /><br />Yes, I've been there and seen it -- in fact am "in" it (poem of mine that is), way down at the end of south side of street (near entrance to parking garage), yes, as far from the central 'conversation' one could get (as in seating at a dinner party). And you too, I take it. Thanks for account of Witter Bynner, didn't know any of that.STEPHEN RATCLIFFEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12339481653546188412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-38070190084279189072010-02-21T06:48:04.561-08:002010-02-21T06:48:04.561-08:00Thanks for the exegesis, Tom. Obviously, I knew wh...Thanks for the exegesis, Tom. Obviously, I knew who Mabel was and I even read The Plumed Serpent as a teenager (along with most of Lawrence's work. I was heavily under the influence of Henry Miller at the time and Miller adored Lawrence).<br /><br />I'm sorry to hear that the bastards fucked up your poem, although I'm happy to learn that Country Joe is the poem's neighbour. I've always had a soft for him. <br /><br />I've seen him interviewed a number of times in documentaries on the 60s, West Coast music, the 'hippie' phenomenon, etc. etc. and he always came across as a down to earth, sharp-eyed and sardonic observer.Misharinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-17307143943230041332010-02-21T05:52:32.027-08:002010-02-21T05:52:32.027-08:00Mish,
Pleasant about the crocus and the daffs and...Mish,<br /><br />Pleasant about the crocus and the daffs and the chirps at last.<br /><br />Here we are in the second wave of spring flowers, the brave early narcissi having given way to daffodils, jonquils, & c., though winter has not yet done with us and even as I type this the storms are returning, further extending a long wet winter. Those of the streets feel it worse of course, being exposed and vulnerable.<br /><br />Witter Bynner (since you ask) was a New York native (b.1881), raised in New England and educated at Harvard, who came West to teach English at Berkeley in 1918. After a year he was fired for serving alcohol to one of his students. In Berkeley he met the Chinese poet Kiang Kang-hu. This decisive encounter led to Bynner's work as a translator of Chinese poetry, an endeavour which in turn strongly influenced his own verse. In California he lived relatively openly as a gay man, rare for that era. Thereafter he left Berkeley to travel in China. Later he settled in Santa Fe, living with one of his former Berkeley students. There is considerable gossip relating to Bynner's stormy relationship with Mabel Dodge Luhan, cultural doyenne of Santa Fe. (She accused him of singlehandedly introducing homosexuality to New Mexico.) Bynner and his partner traveled to Mexico with D.H. Lawrence and Frieda, whom they had met through Luhan. They appear as the fictionalized characters Owen and Villiers in The Plumed Serpent. Bynner lived in Santa Fe the rest of his life. His adobe home there is now a gay bed & breakfast.<br /><br />Bynner's final years were less than happy. In the mid-Sixties he suffered a stroke among other emotional and physical disasters. In 1987, after uttering perhaps the most wrenching last words I have ever come across -- "other people die, why can't I?" -- he did indeed mercifully die.<br /><br />As to the choice of the 126 poems inscribed on the panels, No, I had nothing to do with it. They were selected by a UC poet and former US poet laureate, Robert Hass. The disposition of the panels somewhat resembles dinner party seating arrangements. But then in this country arts management decisions always reflect invisible social stratifications, with coteries and cabals exerting a certain silent influence. Like the larger society around it, Poetry Street has its little neighbourhoods of elites and ghettos. My own panel, I am told, is located in a neighbourhood also populated by Ohlone Indians, street poets and Country Joe McDonald. It is perhaps appropriate as well as somewhat ironic that the only poem of mine that has thus become permanent is also permanently wrong, with the spacing misrepresented in such a way as to spoil the effect by missing out a pause before the final line. I learned this from some of my students who went to look. After hearing of the error, I decided never to go and look at the panel. Thus all I have said here about the arrangement comes from hearsay, albeit probably reliable as the reports have been alas numerous. When on that block anyway I am usually watching not the pavement but my back.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-32890869014514770292010-02-21T05:44:57.425-08:002010-02-21T05:44:57.425-08:00Christine,
Well, we remember what the poet Marian...Christine,<br /><br />Well, we remember what the poet Marianne Moore once wrote of poetry: "I, too, dislike it."<br /><br />Thanks very much for stopping by. I've been over to your spot and immediately fell in love with that sweet little jungle cat.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-71708545310364324052010-02-21T05:43:03.174-08:002010-02-21T05:43:03.174-08:00Carol,
Ah, the poem is always sliding beyond the ...Carol,<br /><br />Ah, the poem is always sliding beyond the residential and commercial lots, heels dug into the mud of life that will never stop flowing. <br /><br />Lovely of you to come, many thanks. <br /><br />(I've now had a pleasant trip to your blog.)TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-86318255611435285362010-02-21T05:37:53.516-08:002010-02-21T05:37:53.516-08:00Steve,
Well, I take it you've been there and ...Steve,<br /><br />Well, I take it you've been there and seen it.<br /><br />Indeed, it is a "shadowed canyon" of far less appealing character than the one you have made so familiar to us.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-56757593379815421432010-02-20T14:02:35.193-08:002010-02-20T14:02:35.193-08:00Not only is that beautifully written, the title &q...Not only is that beautifully written, the title "Blue Evening on Poetry Street" is like a brief poem in itself. I have a love-hate relationship with some poetry, but I am a lover of essays.Christine Younghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12040832137949636403noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-89921352484463735172010-02-20T11:22:50.038-08:002010-02-20T11:22:50.038-08:00How very odd, Tom. It was only a few days ago, in ...How very odd, Tom. It was only a few days ago, in a rather childish bit of point-scoring, that I included Witter Bynner in a list of once-lauded poets that no-one now reads or has heard of. I'm ashamed to say, I'd never heard of him.<br /><br />And here he is, on your poetry street. Was he a local boy? Is there some connection? Or perhaps you were one of the people approached to advise in the choice? At any rate, a strange bit of synchronicity in a typically powerful and touching piece.<br /><br />I can smell Spring in the air here, too. The daffodils are making an entrance, ditto the crocuses (crocii?) and the birds are more numerous (or just more visible) and busier singing and preening. Thank God. It's been the bitterest winter in decades.Misharinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-41758104600108314582010-02-20T08:34:42.632-08:002010-02-20T08:34:42.632-08:00Appreciate this, Tom. Reminds me of Oppen's &q...Appreciate this, Tom. Reminds me of Oppen's "Song, The Winds of Downhill"<br /><br />. . . Who<br />so poor the words<br /><br /><i>would with and</i> take on substantial<br /><br />meaning handholds footholds<br /><br />to dig in one's heels sliding<br /><br />hands and heels beyond the residential<br />lots the plots it is a poem<br /><br />which may be sung<br />may well be sung<br /><br />- CarolCarol Petershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04939321886306936715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-39414858398870685622010-02-20T07:45:31.925-08:002010-02-20T07:45:31.925-08:00Tpm,
Nice to see this 'account' of such ...Tpm, <br /><br />Nice to see this 'account' of such drama on Addison, clash between words in bronze (?) plaques in concrete and real people (here 'memorialized'!) walking, almost crashing into each other, above/across them. I didn't know about those paper "fliers" that appeared between the panels on the sidewalk when they first went up -- yes, a seemingly "bleak and seedy character" to that street. . . .<br /><br />2.20<br /><br />grey whiteness of clouds above shadowed<br />ridge, song sparrow calling from branch<br />in foreground, sound of wave in channel<br /><br /> characteristics of physical,<br /> defined phases follow<br /><br /> flatness, that both present,<br /> each difference which<br /><br />sunlit white cloud to the left of point,<br />shadowed canyon of ridge across from itSTEPHEN RATCLIFFEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12339481653546188412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-70111774376061099032010-02-20T06:36:44.626-08:002010-02-20T06:36:44.626-08:00The council want to put a sculpture here in little...The council want to put a sculpture here in little old Uttoxeter. And what a hoo ha that's causing!<br /><br />My own Haiku is one of 16 that will appear in the poster panels downtown Syracuse. Not set into concrete. People can then purchase copies of the posters - it raises money for the local arts department at the university. It's a project run by a poet called Herm Card who teaches there. <br /><br />I am told in this case it's quite a popular scheme. <br /><br />I just made a reply to you regarding Nelson on my blog.u.v.ray.https://www.blogger.com/profile/02866397025200956617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-88965014622748023632010-02-20T06:16:35.065-08:002010-02-20T06:16:35.065-08:00By the by Ray, I am reminded that not everybody wa...By the by Ray, I am reminded that not everybody was supportive of the poetry panel project when it happened.<br /><br />It's always been a contentious town, and when the panels were unveiled there predictably arose a mild protest. It was suggested that some members of the downtown business association that had sponsored the installation owned property on the block, and that said property would increase in value with the addition of the poetry panels.<br /><br />On the day of the unveiling event small quarter-page printed fliers appeared on the block, neatly placed between each set of poetry panels. "Hey poets and poetry lovers, next time don't pimp poetry for rich people's property values," the fliers read. A manager of a theatre on the block removed them and tore them up, sharpish. Bits of the fliers could later be found in the street and pieced together. I still had a teaching job at the time. One of my students presented me with some found scraps.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-7072039042940926272010-02-20T06:07:53.915-08:002010-02-20T06:07:53.915-08:00Thanks very much Ray,
Of course haiku might well ...Thanks very much Ray,<br /><br />Of course haiku might well be the best form for poetry sunk into concrete.<br /><br />Or then again, a concrete poem, though that might represent a bit of a redundancy. <br /><br />(Like those spirits in Horatio Nelson's lead-lined coffin.)<br /><br />The lost and wandering souls, ah, it is hard not to feel oneself one of them, at times.<br /><br />In this particular wandering situation I was indeed swirling in a flu-bug fever, so the moment was as in a dream, the intervention came upon me before I had time to calculate how very unwise it might have turned out to be.<br /><br />I suppose nerve is always like that, it takes one by surprise and seems infinitely foolish later.<br /><br /><a href="http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/poetry-street.html" rel="nofollow">Here</a> meanwhile is a Dixie Cup for your trophy mantel, or to do with as thou wilt. <br /><br />(Something tells me we both know what the Lord Admiral would have used it for, while he was sewing up his sails.)TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-37886746775595367332010-02-20T05:27:53.245-08:002010-02-20T05:27:53.245-08:00I knew what the California poppy is - but I had to...I knew what the California poppy is - but I had to look up a Dixie cup, just to check what I thought they might be was correct. <br /><br />A picture is painted well here in this piece, Tom. There's just so many lost and wandering souls in this world.<br /><br />I have a Haiku appearing on the poetry panels around Syracuse, NY for their poetry panel project this year. The unveiling ceremony is at the town hall on April 8th. <br /><br />I like the idea of poetry being down there on the streets. It seems to have no real effect, of course. <br /><br />Like the tree falling in a deserted forest?u.v.ray.https://www.blogger.com/profile/02866397025200956617noreply@blogger.com