In Time Immemorial: Longley’s Daffodils
How does a very small poem persist in time immemorial? In the last century, the concept of metaxy or the In-Between (or just “the between’) has been explored at great … Continue reading
Kathryn Maris
This page contains several essays on poems taken from God Loves You by Kathryn Maris See author’s comments on her poem “The Assembly” TK 1. “Knowledge is a Good … Continue reading
Celan’s Transcendent Form
Reading Celan, we may have to speak of form and transcendence together. Here is a short lyric written almost immediately after his return from Jerusalem in 1969. The translation … Continue reading
Milosz on the “Moment”
Form as Guest: Milosz on the Moment or “A form accomplished” From “At Yale,” Collected Poems, 516. Whenever we think of what fulfills itself By making use of us, … Continue reading
Hass’s most famous poem and nihilism
Robert Hass, “Meditation at Lagunitas” Discussing apophatic form (or the question of nihilism in poetry), I often refer to meditation as a relevant discipline. I do not mean to suggest … Continue reading
Zagajewski’s Concert
Here’s a poem from Adam Zagajewski’s 2011 collection, Unseen Hand (translation Clare Cavanagh): At intermission a man in a corduroy jacket emerges from backstage, lays his hands on the piano … Continue reading
Zero at the Bone: Dickinson’s Metaphysical Moment
Emily Dickinson’s “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass”: A narrow Fellow in the Grass Occasionally rides – You may have met him? Did you not His notice instant is – … Continue reading
Building a New Poetics, Word by Word
The “fertile void” is the central concept in a poetics. It echoes the Chinese concept of “dark enigma” (see Zhuangzi) but it refines it through the modern discourse on … Continue reading
Who Says So?: Considering the roots of the life of freedom in poetry
“Tyrannical say-soing Gods both reflect and produce tyrannical say-soing humans” says the contemporary Irish philosopher William Desmond in God and the Between (page 256). Say-so? I say so. One of … Continue reading
Oswald’s “Hymn to Iris” and Nothingness
With Kathryn Maris, Alice Oswald is among the contemporary poets who explore the paradox of nihilism in our time. As paradox, this is by nature a “difficult” topic; treating it … Continue reading
Poetic Investigations 