I’m a new subscriber to Maya C. Popa’s Poetry Today Substack — what a treat to open my inbox when my creativity is waning and find a curation of verse. I’m a philistine reader, though, and will skim until my attention snags. This week, I lingered over “The Doe,” by C.K. Williams, and then its sentiments followed me around all afternoon.
At first, I couldn’t figure out why it struck me so hard. On a purely conceptual level, I related to the insight that visitations with the natural world can attenuate the discomfort of the soul — not erase or absolve, just lessen, for a time, the intensity. Wendell Berry captured this sentiment cogently in his poem “The Peace of Wild Things,” and Mary Oliver’s entire body of work could be summarized along the same lines. So there was this, and perhaps I needed the reminder to get out of my head and into the world, and this is why I felt like “a bell, awakened” (Denise Levertov, “Variation on a Theme by Rilke,” also included in Maya’s roundup this week) as I read the words.
But there was something else, too, and this gets to one of the countless reasons why we read: a text can be many things all at once. It is a squid, pumping blood from many hearts. Because I couldn’t stop thinking about the phrase “I in disquiet and dismay / for the suffering of someone I loved” and the visual of the doe “in her always incipient alarm.” I related to both, and profoundly, all at once. I was reading the poem like a one-person play, attaching myself to each mask, and connecting it all to the fact that a friend of mine lost her mother this week. She had flown up to be with her less than a week ago, and seemed to know that the end was near, and I would find myself thinking of her while brushing my teeth, and opening my car door, and waiting with my son while my daughter completed her guitar lesson, and doing all these normal things while my friend was living out a week of unimaginable losing.
I have no answer for this absurd asymmetry. And it feels like a paltry offering to be writing about poetry today. But just to say that sometimes I have needed the crutch of other words to understand myself, to look squarely in the mirror and see the shape of what I am feeling.
And what a gift to find the right ones at the right moment —
Onward —
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Words I read and loved this week:
“Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident.” — William Zinsser
“The day’s blow / rang out, metallic–or it was I, a bell awakened, / and what I heard was my whole self /
saying and singing what it knew: I can.” — Denise Levertov
“The silver loneliness / of moonlight.” – Edwin Arlington Robinson
“But I would go to London once or twice a week in a wild, escalation passion of frustration, blinded by some mysterious mixture of guilt, moroseness, and desire. I wasn’t after women, but something invisible, something I never found…all of this leading up to — in fact nothing more than an elaborate ritualized introduction to — the drive home at three a.m. in my Jaguar. The drive home was the point of it all.” -Frank Conroy, Stop-Time*
*I guess Mr. Conroy and I are on speaking terms.
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Sunday Shopping Poetry…
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Above: My recent book order.
Below: Freda Salvador’s best-selling Brooke boots (waterproof!) are on sale for 25% off with code BROOKEBOOT25. The sale opens to the public tomorrow, so grab yours now before colors sell out! I ordered the brown suede because espresso suede had already sold out in my size! // The ultra-chic Lilly Sisto just launched a collection with Dillard’s — the styles are so her. I love this tweed dress and these satin kitten heels. // Mille launched its holiday collection, and it’s full of interesting new styles and shapes in festive colors and motifs (15% off sitewide with JEN15). I love this sweater and this emerald jacket. // YSE’s new lip mask is addictive. I keep it on my desk drawer and apply it compulsively. // Apparis has a cute selection of faux-fur cold weather accessories — love these earmuffs and these mittens. // I ordered this wool-blend vest to pair with holiday trousers. Under $120! // Love these not-too-dramatic bowed leg jeans from Pistola.
MILLE SWEATER // YSE LIP MASK // MADEWELL VEST // PISTOLA LEXI JEANS // APPARIS EARMUFFS // FREDA SALVADOR BROOKE BOOTS (25% OFF WITH BROOKEBOOT25) // STOP-TIME BY FRANK CONROY
On the Madewell vest front, I included this in my list of tops to wear with statement skirts / pants this holiday season, but here’s a specific approach to styling —
MADEWELL VEST // BODEN VELVET TROUSERS (UPGRADE PICK: LA LIGNE // LOOK FOR LESS ZARA) // LIZZIE FORTUNATO EARRINGS // HERMES LIPSTICK // NOEUS BAG // NOEUS MULES (LOOK FOR LESS HERE)
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