I got a poetry book for my birthday. I haven't read everything yet, but these are the ones that stand out for me:
La Vita Nuova
-Dante Alighieri
In that book which is
My memory . . .
On the first page
That is the chapter when
I first met you
Appear the words . . .
Here begins a new life
*****
Love, 20 cents the First Quarter Mile- Kenneth Fearing
All right. I may have lied to you and about you, and made a
few pronouncements a bit too
sweeping,
perhaps, and possibly forgotten to tag the bases here or there,
And damned your extravagance, and maligned your tastes,
and libeled your relatives,
and slandered a few of your friends,
O.K.,
Nevertheless, come back.
Come home. I will agree to forget the statements that you
issued so copiously to the neighbors and the press,
And you will forget that figment of your imagination, the
blonde from Detroit;
I will agree that your lady friend who lives above us is not
crazy, bats, nutty as they
come,
but on the contrary rather bright,
And you will concede that poor old Steinberg is neither a drunk,
nor a swindler, but
simply a guy, on the
eccentric side, trying to get along.
(Are you listening, you bitch, and have you got this straight?)
Because I forgive you, yes, for everything.
I forgive you for being beautiful and generous and wise,
I forgive you, to put it simply, for being alive, and pardon
you, in short, for being you.
Because tonight you are in my hair and eyes,
And every street light that our taxi passes shows me you
again, still you,
And because tonight all other nights are black, all other
hours are cold and far away,
and now,
this minute, the stars are very near and bright.
Come back. We will have a celebration to end all celebrations.
We will invite the undertaker who lives beneath us, and a
couple of boys from the office, and some other friends.
And Steinberg, who is off the wagon, and that insane woman
who lives upstairs, and a
few reporters,
if anything should break.
*****
True Love
- Judith Viorst
It is true love because
I put on eyeliner and a concerto and make pungent
observations about the great issues of the day
Even when there's no one here but him,
And because
I do not resent watching the Green Bay Packers
Even though I am philosophically opposed to
football,
And because
When he is late for dinner and I know he must be
either having an affair or lying dead in the
middle of the street,
I always hope he's dead.
It's true love because
If he said quit drinking martinis but I kept drinking
them and the next morning I couldn't get out of
bed,
He wouldn't tell me he told me,
And because
He is willing to wear unironed undershorts
Out of respect for the fact that I am philosophically
opposed to ironing,
And because
If his mother was drowning and I was drowning and
he had to choose one of us to save,
He says he'd save me.
It's true love because
When he went to San Francisco on business while I
had to stay home with the painters and the
exterminator and the baby who was getting the
chicken pox,
He understood why I hated him,
And because
When I said that playing the stock market was
juvenile and irresponsible and then the stock I
wouldn't let him buy went up twenty-six points,
I understood why he hated me,
And because
Despite cigarette cough, tooth decay, acid
indigestion, dandruff, and other features of
married life that tend to dampen the fires of
passion,
We still feel something
We can call
True love. *****
Yes, i know this was written by Gertrude to Alice. Does anyone have a problem with that? No one? Ok, I didn't think so.
To Alice B. Toklas
--Gertrude Stein
Do you really think I would yes I would and
I do love all you with all me.
Do you really think I could, yes I could
yes I would love all you with all me.
Do you really think I should yes I should
love all you with all me yes I should
yes I could yes I would.
Do you really think I do love all you
with all me yes I do love all you with all
me And bless my baby.
*****
And yes, I do believe in Carpe Diem.
| Nothing Twice | |
by Wislawa Szymborska
Translated by Clare Cavanagh and Stanislaw Baranczak |
| |
Nothing can ever happen twice.
In consequence, the sorry fact is
that we arrive here improvised
and leave without the chance to practice.
Even if there is no one dumber,
if you're the planet's biggest dunce,
you can't repeat the class in summer:
this course is only offered once.
No day copies yesterday,
no two nights will teach what bliss is
in precisely the same way,
with precisely the same kisses.
One day, perhaps some idle tongue
mentions your name by accident:
I feel as if a rose were flung
into the room, all hue and scent.
The next day, though you're here with me,
I can't help looking at the clock:
A rose? A rose? What could that be?
Is it a flower or a rock?
Why do we treat the fleeting day
with so much needless fear and sorrow?
It's in its nature not to say
Today is always gone tomorrow
With smiles and kisses, we prefer
to seek accord beneath our star,
although we're different (we concur)
just as two drops of water are. |
*****
I heard this song today in yahoo radio and couldn't help but smile :D
Naive Orleans -Anberlin
Come and go now as you please
Your actions write the melodies
To those songs that we sing
And you just sing
And I finally found that life goes on without you
And my world still turns when you're not around
Is this the way you want it?
Is this the way it has to be?
Sitting here beside you
When my heart's lost in New Orleans
Dreams come clever
Hearts now severed
Difference of forever
And I am lost there
And I finally found that life goes on without you
And my world still turns when you're not around
And I finally found that life goes on without you
And my world still turns when you're not around
And I finally found that all
Your actions write the melodies
To the songs that we sing
Your actions write the melodies
To the songs that we sing
And you just sing along out loud, yea
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pensive
amused
jubilant
Hmmm...
errrr.....