Better poems from Indiana University
Charles lP Chen
I'm posting this for a friend of mine. Her work is a refreshing change
from Marek's endless postings..
The Traveler...
it is a shear monument of disbelief.
i cannot fathom such a simplistic aura of astoundingness.
the light at the end of the tunnel is seemingly small.
shall i get out?
shall i get out?
shall i take the steps to find the light....or...
shall i remain?
shall i shudder in misery?
shall i never reach the edge?
the light has dimmed.
am i alone?
i hear a scream.
i am not alone
i find the hidden staircase.
i climb the steep stairs.
i reach the top.
...and the tunnel continues
further and further.
i look behind me to possibly find hope.
or to find that maybe someone is behind me.
someone left in misery as i am.
i look to see if they struggle.
as they trip and fall to the bottom of the stairs.
i pick up my feet and climb even more.
leaving behind ...the miserable people.
as i realize that miserable people are no fun to travel with.
it was then when i realized also.....
that it was for that reason that i too was a lonely traveler.
i picked up my feet with a smile that time.
and before me arose a light.
unseen before.
now blinding me.
i travel still alone....but not in misery.
i travel with hope.
and a bright light before me.
Jennifer Kimble
Indiana University Bloomington
Marek Lugowski
>I'm posting this for a friend of mine. Her work is a refreshing change
>from Marek's endless postings..
For those that may not know there is a palpable element of polarity
that goes on in the MIT culture, a Winners & Losers, Us vs. Them,
attitude, crissrossing even the school itself (when I was at the MIT
AI Lab the "mecchie" was the local putdown, the mecchie of course,
being the braindamaged losers from two buildings over). Life is not a
zero-sum game, however, and neither is r.a.p.ing.
I'd rather not be used to further such polarizing attitudes, and I don't
think Jennifer or Mikki deserve that either. Please try to serve their
cause a little truer, if you are indeed their friend, by presenting their
poems free of antagonizing/antagonistic sparks, on their own fine merit.
You have a reposnibility to them to do jus that since they have no access
to speak for themselves.
Too bad Indiana U. is not yet hip enough to give its students an at
large r.a.p. access; this may change in the fall. We have quite a few
e-poets here who deserve to be heard from regularly, including: Fort
Wayne's Jennifer Kimble, Bedford's Mikki Nation, but also Evansville's
Cathy L. King, and Bloomington's Eri Zeitz, also Pamela Betz, Eric
Gutjahre, C. Fish, Brian Alsop, Frances Schuetz, as wells as
Northwestern's (and come next fall, IU's) Dawn Tasaka -- of "waterlove
darkly and peaches on your her tongue" fame -- and there really is NO
REASON to caustically announce anything on behalf of any of us. We
REALLY DO have a fantastic, maybe even the best in the country,
poetry-on-line thing at IU, with or without any one of us. Thank you
for helping to convey this message. How about some more?
-- Marek
"'Very well. Let's have a love poem, lyrical, pastoral, and expressed
in the language of pure mathematics. Tensor algebra mainly, with a little
topology and higher calculus, if need be. But with feeling, you understand,
and in the cybernetic spirit.'"
-- Stanislaw Lem, in The Cyberiad, as Klaupacius.
English translation from Polish, Michael Kandel, BA, MA, PhD, Indiana U.
Wlodzimierz Holsztynski
>
>
>
>I'm posting this for a friend of mine. Her work is a refreshing change
>from Marek's endless postings..
>
Hm, if I had to choose between Marek and the rest-of-the-rap it would
be a tough choice. Of course the-rest-of-the-rap posts more than
Marek alone, but according to you Charles it's a disadvantage that
the-rest-of-the-rap has. Otherwise Marek wins in two big ways:
(1) his poetry is much more varied and fresh than that of
the-rest-the-rap, and
(2) each and every of Marek poems is on a level that only a very few
selected rappers can match (while I can only applaud, which is a very
happy activity :-).
I said that it would be a tough choice because I'd like to see all
rap poems, including those naive and non-refreshing like my own. Thus
I am glad that I can have both Marek and the rest.
Regards
Wlod
Wlodzimierz Holsztynski
Einstein's Window
(1)
You must derive your strength
From Earth populated by
A hundred members of
Your own family living
Within a hundred miles
And from another hundred
Dispersed further away like
Night-lights outside a city
I wish I knew that feeling.
I wish my children would.
(2)
I had little to do with the bold flowers
Which my wife grew in the backyard.
My aunt acted theatrical.
Suddenly she had tears in her eyes,
While I've cut a red rose -
" I'll take her back with me
And lie her down on the grave of your grandmother"
my aunt said.
The dead rose went over the steel ocean
To keep my grandma company.
My grandmother was my aunt's mother.
(3)
Far from Earth
There must be Einstein's house.
Its open window swings
In the gravitational draft.
The Earth's plants and animals and us
From the future and from the past
Hide in the opaque shade of non-being.
The precious few bask
In the sun-light reflected from
The moving Einstein window.
But my one and only aunt
Is already in the shadow.
(4)
Clouds in the blue sky move with dignity;
Their liquid shadow is rapid.
H.California
1988-08-10
Jonathan Rowe
What a great poem this is! I just want to make a few comments about the
structure of it..
Einstein's Window
(1)
You must derive your strength
From Earth populated by
A hundred members of
Your own family living
Within a hundred miles
And from another hundred
Dispersed further away like
Night-lights outside a city
I wish I knew that feeling.
I wish my children would.
This first section is a great scene-setter. I gets all the right associations
going in the reader's mind. Many poets would just leave it there and post it,
but Wlod knows that "general" poems are weak. You need to ground them in the
specific...
(2)
I had little to do with the bold flowers
Which my wife grew in the backyard.
My aunt acted theatrical.
Suddenly she had tears in her eyes,
While I've cut a red rose -
" I'll take her back with me
And lie her down on the grave of your grandmother"
my aunt said.
The dead rose went over the steel ocean
To keep my grandma company.
My grandmother was my aunt's mother.
So, we have an actual event which jolts us effectively away from the detached
philosophy of the introduction to real emotions. Only now are we prepared to
realise the power of the main image of the poem...
(3)
Far from Earth
There must be Einstein's house.
Its open window swings
In the gravitational draft.
The Earth's plants and animals and us
From the future and from the past
Hide in the opaque shade of non-being.
The precious few bask
In the sun-light reflected from
The moving Einstein window.
But my one and only aunt
Is already in the shadow.
A brilliantly original image (the kind Wlod does so well). But notice how much
more force is added given it's following on from the first two sections. Since
we've now met the aunt and appreciate the minimal family situation, this image
is devestating. Philosophy has become a real, every-minute-of-every-day issue.
But to avoid the danger of leaving the reader's viewpoint "Far from Earth",
Wlod grounds us once again in an Earthly image.
(4)
Clouds in the blue sky move with dignity;
Their liquid shadow is rapid.
This picture would require great artistry to decribe even by itself, let alone
in relation to the life/death/family theme already active. Wlod manages
beautifully. This is the best bit of the whole poem (imho), as it could stand
alone and still be effective. But if you've got a powerful weapon, you may as
well use it to the full, and it makes a perfect finish.
Jon.