other people’s poems
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‘Delirium for the Four Legs of a Love’ by Dimitris Athinakis (trans. Karen Emmerich)
I see your yesses coming from afar and my own, like candles, brandish and burn awaiting the centuries A strong wind carries off my hat my glasses my tattoo my arm carries off my leg and an eye [I’m left there smiling before jets gushing the joy of nothingness] joy — it too alone Stay,…
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“Primrose” by Patrick Kavanagh
Upon a bank I sat, a child made seer Of one small primrose flowering in my mind. Better than wealth it is, said I, to find One small page of Truth’s manuscript made clear. I looked at Christ transfigured without fear— The light was very beautiful and kind, And where the Holy Ghost in…
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“The Struggles of Words”, 1928, by Pierre Reverdy
Torment wanders into the light beyond the roof. At midday, without sunlight. The walls are covered with snow, against a gray background. The eye stops and vainly seeks a better path. They’ve rubbed away the designs that gave life to the crumbling walls. Some words raise themselves affirmatively. And the flood, too high, carries off the…
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“Shocked (8 January 1963)” by Jackson Mac Low
Stunt. Their groom shocked shock- ed Police suspended suspensions though good Shocked thrown two shocked shock- ed Police suspended suspensions though good shocked Chief two shock- ed that though Shocked their groom shocked the two force, Shocked The two shocked drank coffee relaxed. Source: Mac Low, Jackson. Thing of Beauty: New and Selected Works. Ed.…
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“God’s Grandeur” by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1918)
The world is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out, like shining from shook foil; It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod? Generations have trod, have trod, have trod; And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;…
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“Sul Llobregat” by Eugenio Montale
Dal verde immarcescibile della canfora due note, un intervallo di terza maggiore. Il cucco, non la civetta, ti dissi; ma intanto, di scatto, tu avevi spinto l’acceleratore. from Collected Poems 1920-1954
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Stanza XVI from ‘Stanzas in Meditation’ by Gertrude Stein
Should they call me what they call me When they come to call on me And should I be satisfied with all three When all three are with me Or should I say may they stay Or will they stay with me On no account must they cry out About which one went where they…
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“Orpheus in Athens” by Jack Spicer
The boy had never seen an honest man. He looked among us every night he said. He eyed each stranger like Diogenes And took him with his lantern into bed. He’d probe the stranger’s body with that light Search every corner of his flesh and bone But truth was never there. He’d spend the night…
wikipoem.org 