Do folks still do Poetry Friday? I mostly gave up because I was always late, always remembering about it on Sunday morning when getting around to reading other blogs..... But look, here I am. On Friday: And I have a poem for you by Taylor Mali.
And not just any poem - a clarion call to our students, & to us.
Showing posts with label poetry friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poetry friday. Show all posts
Friday, January 14, 2011
Friday, August 17, 2007
Poetry Friday - William Carlos Williams
(Just because I've been eating them........ )
This is Just to Say
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast.
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold.
William Carlos Williams
This week's roundup is hosted by Kelly R Fineman.
This is Just to Say
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast.
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold.
William Carlos Williams
This week's roundup is hosted by Kelly R Fineman.
Friday, August 03, 2007
Poetry Friday
I was just thinking of one of my favourite films Truly, Madly, Deeply and so my selection today is
La Muerta
Pablo Neruda
trans. Donald Walsh
- excerpt
If suddenly you do not exist,
if suddenly you are not living,
I shall go on living.
...
No, forgive me.
If you are not living,
if you, beloved, my love,
if you
have died,
all the leaves will fall on my breast,
it will rain upon my soul night and day,
the snow will burn my heart,
I shall walk with cold and fire and death and snow,
my feet will want to march toward where you sleep,
but
I shall go on living
If you don't know this movie, do check it out. A brief synopsis would make you think of Ghost - "woman's lover dies and as she's trying to struggle through her grief, he comes back to comfort her" - but it is a much, much better film.
The acting is superb. Juliet Stevenson's portrayal of grief is raw and real and at times too painful to watch. This isn't maudlin melodrama, it is a deep, honest sorrow. It is definitely a kleenex-at-hand movie, but it is also funny, charming and warm. The wonderful Alan Rickman (with a dodgy mustache but I'll overlook it because of his voice, oh yes, his voice) plays the dead man who comes back to comfort his beloved.
You can push ahead to the 3:28 mark, when he asks her to translate this poem:
(oops, try around 2:30. When the vid is on youtube the counter goes up, but now it seems to be counting down in reverse.)
Then go get the movie and watch it all.
For more Poetry Friday selections - I think universally more cheery than mine - , check out the Roundup, courtesy of The Miss Rumphius Effect.
La Muerta
Pablo Neruda
trans. Donald Walsh
- excerpt
If suddenly you do not exist,
if suddenly you are not living,
I shall go on living.
...
No, forgive me.
If you are not living,
if you, beloved, my love,
if you
have died,
all the leaves will fall on my breast,
it will rain upon my soul night and day,
the snow will burn my heart,
I shall walk with cold and fire and death and snow,
my feet will want to march toward where you sleep,
but
I shall go on living
If you don't know this movie, do check it out. A brief synopsis would make you think of Ghost - "woman's lover dies and as she's trying to struggle through her grief, he comes back to comfort her" - but it is a much, much better film.
The acting is superb. Juliet Stevenson's portrayal of grief is raw and real and at times too painful to watch. This isn't maudlin melodrama, it is a deep, honest sorrow. It is definitely a kleenex-at-hand movie, but it is also funny, charming and warm. The wonderful Alan Rickman (with a dodgy mustache but I'll overlook it because of his voice, oh yes, his voice) plays the dead man who comes back to comfort his beloved.
You can push ahead to the 3:28 mark, when he asks her to translate this poem:
(oops, try around 2:30. When the vid is on youtube the counter goes up, but now it seems to be counting down in reverse.)
Then go get the movie and watch it all.
For more Poetry Friday selections - I think universally more cheery than mine - , check out the Roundup, courtesy of The Miss Rumphius Effect.
Friday, July 06, 2007
Poetry Friday
Farm School is an incredibly inspiring homeschooling blog, and Becky is a really nice person too. So I can't really hate her too much for always being so thoroughly ON TOP of things and not forgetting to do things - things like Poetry Friday.
But lo & behold, it's not midnight yet in my timezone & I'm sliding under the wire with Leonard Cohen.
"I Wonder How Many People in This City"
I wonder how many people in this city
live in furnished rooms.
Late at night when i look out at the buildings
I swear I see a face in every window
looking back at me
and when I turn away
I wonder how many go back to their desks
and write this down.
"Democracy"
It's coming through a hole in the air,
from those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It's coming from the feel
that this ain't exactly real,
or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
from the sirens night and day,
from the fires of the homeless,
from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming through a crack in the wall;
on a visionary flood of alcohol;
from the staggering account
of the Sermon on the Mount
which I don't pretend to understand at all.
It's coming from the silence
on the dock of the bay,
from the brave, the bold, the battered
heart of Chevrolet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming from the sorrow in the street,
the holy places where the races meet;
from the homicidal bitchin'
that goes down in every kitchen
to determine who will serve and who will eat.
From the wells of disappointment
where the women kneel to pray
for the grace of God in the desert here
and the desert far away:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
Sail on, sail on
O mighty Ship of State!
To the Shores of Need
Past the Reefs of Greed
Through the Squalls of Hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.
It's coming to America first,
the cradle of the best and of the worst.
It's here they got the range
and the machinery for change
and it's here they got the spiritual thirst.
It's here the family's broken
and it's here the lonely say
that the heart has got to open
in a fundamental way:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming from the women and the men.
O baby, we'll be making love again.
We'll be going down so deep
the river's going to weep,
and the mountain's going to shout Amen!
It's coming like the tidal flood
beneath the lunar sway,
imperial, mysterious,
in amorous array:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
Sail on, sail on ...
I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A
But lo & behold, it's not midnight yet in my timezone & I'm sliding under the wire with Leonard Cohen.
"I Wonder How Many People in This City"
I wonder how many people in this city
live in furnished rooms.
Late at night when i look out at the buildings
I swear I see a face in every window
looking back at me
and when I turn away
I wonder how many go back to their desks
and write this down.
"Democracy"
It's coming through a hole in the air,
from those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It's coming from the feel
that this ain't exactly real,
or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
from the sirens night and day,
from the fires of the homeless,
from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming through a crack in the wall;
on a visionary flood of alcohol;
from the staggering account
of the Sermon on the Mount
which I don't pretend to understand at all.
It's coming from the silence
on the dock of the bay,
from the brave, the bold, the battered
heart of Chevrolet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming from the sorrow in the street,
the holy places where the races meet;
from the homicidal bitchin'
that goes down in every kitchen
to determine who will serve and who will eat.
From the wells of disappointment
where the women kneel to pray
for the grace of God in the desert here
and the desert far away:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
Sail on, sail on
O mighty Ship of State!
To the Shores of Need
Past the Reefs of Greed
Through the Squalls of Hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.
It's coming to America first,
the cradle of the best and of the worst.
It's here they got the range
and the machinery for change
and it's here they got the spiritual thirst.
It's here the family's broken
and it's here the lonely say
that the heart has got to open
in a fundamental way:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming from the women and the men.
O baby, we'll be making love again.
We'll be going down so deep
the river's going to weep,
and the mountain's going to shout Amen!
It's coming like the tidal flood
beneath the lunar sway,
imperial, mysterious,
in amorous array:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
Sail on, sail on ...
I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A