Category: Poetry

Selected Poems 1957-1967

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Hughes, Ted. “Wind”. Selected Poems 1957-1967. New York: Harper & Row, 1974. 13.

Ted Hughes

I trembled at the very thought of this poem. I do not like the wind. Never have, never will. I knew the landscape of Hughes’s words would be dark and terrifying. I almost couldn’t read them. I am more than familiar with gulls bent against the wind, life thrown about; and of houses that tremble to the point of coward. I know of the foreboding, the violence. Hughes not only puts me at the scene. He puts me home.

BookLust Twist: Pearl does no more than include Hughes in her list of “Poetry Pleasers” from More Book Lust (p. 188).

Forgetfulness

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Billy CollinsCollins, Billy. “Forgetfulness.” Questions About Angels. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1999. 20.

I laughed out loud at this poem. It addresses something I’m facing with this Book Lust challenge, forgetting. I’ve got this mental block towards some of the books I’ve read and Collins says right off the bat the title is the first to go. Eventually, the entire book is lost.

Take A Separate Peace by John Knowles. I remember images, certain lines from that story but I’m not 100% confident I remember the ending. We studied the novel in high school. I was constantly comparing campuses. I was a freshman. My favorite line was, “I jounced the limb” because to me, it implied intention, action taken on purpose. Deliberate action equaled guilt. But, do I remember what happened next? No.

But, back to Billy and his “Forgetfulness” poem. I love the imagery, the common-man voice he used to describe a delicate slipping away. Words like “lurking” and “drifted” are some of my favorites ways to describe the elusive, the untouchable. Memory as something that glides away. It’s beautiful, really.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust‘s chapter on “Poetry Pleasers” (p187).  Pearl says to read “everything” by Collins.