tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post4046333107788408279..comments2024-01-28T03:56:39.351-08:00Comments on TOM CLARK: Weldon Kees: The Lease Is UpUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-65898392970474592292012-08-20T16:48:56.817-07:002012-08-20T16:48:56.817-07:00Were they my pets
those strays
the way they ate
fo...Were they my pets<br />those strays<br />the way they ate<br />for show when really<br />it was something<br />else they wanted<br />I could not provide it<br />a few days happy<br />and then the opposite<br /><br />I was used to living<br />alone on the plains<br />the tracks my enemy<br />my best friend <br />I did not want to know<br />where they went<br />but they didSusan Kay Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16277139119869470939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-56721120517037906342012-08-20T10:00:54.642-07:002012-08-20T10:00:54.642-07:00The men I lost
looked around for America
without r...The men I lost<br />looked around for America<br />without returning <br />making good on<br />their promises <br />to come back<br />for more pie<br />despite their compliments<br />I grew suspicious<br />when I glimpsed them<br />reaching for the others<br />along the tracks<br /><br />sometimes I'd see them<br />mornings all stretched out<br />not a care in the world<br />the bottle the paper bag<br /><br />then I'd go home<br />and eat the pie myself<br />it was good enough for me<br />but I wasn't the one<br />without a jobSusan Kay Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16277139119869470939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-30542006598068606402012-08-20T07:58:12.361-07:002012-08-20T07:58:12.361-07:00"...that gun's / magnanimous and brutal s..."...that gun's / magnanimous and brutal smoke, endure."<br /><br />"Like all the wars ahead..."<br /><br />When the imperishable becomes intolerable, this failed apprentice can only return to the master. Though my Kees collection remains deeply buried (did he leave the keys in the car?), perhaps next to Hart Crane, I am pleased to see that Heaney and Hughes included Kees' 1954 poem "The Umbrella" in their anthology The School Bag. Having given an extended history of the umbrella, Kees ends:<br /><br />"Over the empty harbor, grey and motionless,<br />The clouds have been gathering all afternoon, and now<br />The sea is pitted with rain. Wind shakes the house.<br />Here from this window lashed with spray, I watch<br />A black umbrella, ripped apart and wrong side out,<br />Go lurching wildly down the beach; a sudden gust<br />Carries it upward, upside down,<br />Over the water, flapping and free,<br />Into the heart of the storm." <br /><br />larry whitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05659637420532771765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-79228910659166648582012-08-20T04:40:59.827-07:002012-08-20T04:40:59.827-07:00Tom,
. . . the lease is up. . .
Darken the rooms,...Tom,<br /><br />. . . the lease is up. . .<br />Darken the rooms, cut all the wires. . .<br /><br />8.20<br /><br />light coming into cloud above shadowed<br />walls of buildings, line of black wire<br />in foreground, sound of cars in street<br /><br /> that of all that is to come<br /> in itself, is present<br /><br /> when a number one can count,<br /> more and more, object<br /><br />brick red wall against grey white sky,<br />wingspan of bird gliding to the right<br />STEPHEN RATCLIFFEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12339481653546188412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-30214817744651056242012-08-20T04:14:22.090-07:002012-08-20T04:14:22.090-07:00Vassilis, thanks very much, that means a lot when ...Vassilis, thanks very much, that means a lot when coming from someone whose example is an object lesson in what it takes to keep a conscientious and enlightening blog going through thick and thin: surviving the devastations of debt, especially of the kind incurred by the malfeasance and greed of those who hold and brandish power over our lives (that would be the thin)... while harvesting for us all an amazingly generous abundance of natural riches, poems, pomegranates, oregano & c. (the thick).TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-84232038189524428312012-08-20T01:08:17.640-07:002012-08-20T01:08:17.640-07:00Of course there are other kinds of debts that are ...Of course there are other kinds of debts that are not at all onerous and which make us feel inestimably richer when we acknowledge them--a case in point would be this blog. <br /><br /><br /><br />vazambam (Vassilis Zambaras)https://www.blogger.com/profile/14515165428574974933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-57859690819066928262012-08-19T22:59:30.180-07:002012-08-19T22:59:30.180-07:00Debt always sneaks around to the rear entry but is...Debt always sneaks around to the rear entry but is never satisfied by being turned away the first time, it will be back, this time at the front door, like that infamous postman who rang twice.<br /><br />Class deficits create yawning gaps that can never really be filled, and the fact that the accidental debtors never stop trying only makes the whole business more cruel.<br /><br />Still, advantages of class or wealth do not ensure happiness or peace of mind.<br /><br /><a href="http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/weldon-kees-upstairs-room.html" rel="nofollow">This</a> is what happened with Kees' father.<br /><br />What became of the poet himself nobody knows for sure, but a strong hint was left behind in the form of his car, parked and abandoned near the GG Bridge.<br /><br />Falling through that cold air would probably freeze one's tears and choke one's laughter in the throat (that is, in the unlikely event there remained any tears or laughter mixed in with the black dread and vertigo of the plummet toward the deeps).TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-70184444311867209732012-08-19T20:05:40.026-07:002012-08-19T20:05:40.026-07:00living is debt. but what is owed and repaid has no...living is debt. but what is owed and repaid has nothing to do with money. about that class precedent, the luck of the draw..gamefacedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16562522181852339258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-23578570059732620042012-08-19T14:11:33.068-07:002012-08-19T14:11:33.068-07:00What a soft and relentless tread debt has!What a soft and relentless tread debt has!Mose23https://www.blogger.com/profile/01100756913131511440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-77026844179217566032012-08-19T12:38:22.410-07:002012-08-19T12:38:22.410-07:00Another fine poem. Thank you, Tom.Another fine poem. Thank you, Tom.Jonathan Chanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03647746685252448938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-55995071388057466612012-08-19T11:55:32.972-07:002012-08-19T11:55:32.972-07:00Why I never seldom ever
published
poems:
imperfec...Why I never seldom ever<br />published<br /><br />poems:<br />imperfections!<br /><br />Tried to fix and fathom<br />in this life.<br /><br />Should I laugh or cry,<br />Weldon, from the bridge?<br /><br />larry whitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05659637420532771765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-12011661356575920712012-08-19T09:43:34.559-07:002012-08-19T09:43:34.559-07:00Second line should read "short savored"Second line should read "short savored"larry whitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05659637420532771765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-16245751711100183622012-08-19T09:38:05.814-07:002012-08-19T09:38:05.814-07:00Wow, thanks for these! I had not seen your previou...Wow, thanks for these! I had not seen your previous Kees posts or read him for many years but he's been on my mind lately. His posthumous 1960 collection was maybe the first book of poems I ever bought. They have gained power for me although I loved them then. <br /><br />The private spectre of a dream<br />short savor<br />another day's hollow earth vapors<br />touch mine underground<br />air-brushed fantasy<br />elemental honey missed<br />furniture found<br />door unlocked next door<br />basement industry young men sneakers<br />secretive slow and sweeter<br />unfinished business there<br />sleepy looks wing it larry whitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05659637420532771765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-91801159729787125772012-08-19T06:57:34.626-07:002012-08-19T06:57:34.626-07:00Also by this poet:
Weldon Kees: Back
Weldon Kees...Also by this poet:<br /><br /><a href="http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/weldon-kees-back.html" rel="nofollow">Weldon Kees: Back</a><br /><br /><a href="http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/weldon-kees-1926.html" rel="nofollow">Weldon Kees: 1926</a><br /><br /><a href="http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/weldon-kees-upstairs-room.html" rel="nofollow">Weldon Kees: The Upstairs Room</a>TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.com