Friday, 31 August 2007
Within and Without: Revelation
31 August 2007 06:54 EDT | Posted by donw714 Within and Without: Revelation
As I mentioned before I've been struggling with Charles Wright's recent volume of poems, Scar Tissue. This morning, Garrison Keillor highlights a fine poem by Wright in his Writer's Almanac: "After Reading T'ao Ch'ing, I wander Untethered Through the Short Grass," from his collection Appalachia. Check it out, it's worth the click. Today is the birthday of the Irish songwriter/bard Van Morrison. Over the years, he has given the world such a wide array of quality music, from the cliched blue-eyed soul through the mystic to skiffle, country and beyond. One of his least lauded but very best albums, at least for the poets in the crowd, is 1980's Common One. It is simply, while simultaneously being about, revelation. Here is "Summertime in England": Can you meet me in the country In the summertime in England Will you meet me? Will you meet me in the country In the summertime in England Will you meet me? We'll go riding up to Kendal in the country In the summertime in England. Did you ever hear about Did you ever hear about Did you ever hear about Wordsworth and Coleridge, baby? Did you ever hear about Wordsworth and Coleridge? They were smokin' up in Kendal By the lakeside Can you meet me in the country in the long grass In the summertime in England Will you meet me With your red robe dangling all around your body With your red robe dangling all around your body Will you meet me Did you ever hear about . . . William Blake T. S. Eliot In the summer In the countryside They were smokin' Summertime in England Won't you meet me down Bristol Meet me along by Bristol We'll go ridin' down Down by Avalon Down by Avalon Down by Avalon In the countryside in England With your red robe danglin' all around your body free Let your red robe go. Goin' ridin' down by Avalon Would you meet me in the country In the summertime in England Would you meet me? In the Church of St. John . . . Down by Avalon . . . . Holy Magnet Give you attraction Yea, I was attracted to you. Your coat was old, ragged and worn And you wore it down through the ages Ah, the sufferin' did show in your eyes as we spoke And the gospel music The voice of Mahalia Jackson came through the ether Oh my common one with the coat so old And the light in the head Said, daddy, don't stroke me Call me the common one. I said, oh, common one, my illuminated one. Oh my high in the art of sufferin' one. Take a walk with me Take a walk with me down by Avalon Oh, my common one with the coat so old And the light in her head. And the sufferin' so fine Take a walk with me down by Avalon And I will show you It ain't why, why, why It just is. Would you meet me in the country Can you meet me in the long grass In the country in the summertime Can you meet me in the long grass Wait a minute With your red robe . . . Danglin' all around your body. Yeats and Lady Gregory corresponded . . . And James Joyce wrote streams of consciousness books . . . T.S. Eliot chose England . . . T.S. Eliot joined the ministry . . . Did you ever hear about . . . Wordsworth and Coleridge? Smokin' up in Kendal They were smokin' by the lakeside . . . Let your red robe go . . . Let your red robe dangle in the countryside in England We'll go ridin' down by Avalon In the country In the summertime With you by my side Let your red robe go . . . You'll be happy dancin' . . . Let your red robe go . . . Won't you meet me down by Avalon In the summertime in England In the Church of St. John . . . Did you ever hear about Jesus walkin' Jesus walkin' down by Avalon? Can you feel the light in England? Can you feel the light in England? Oh, my common one with the light in her head And the coat so old And the sufferin' so fine Take a walk with me Oh, my common one, Oh, my illuminated one Down by Avalon . . . Oh, my common one . . . Oh, my storytime one Oh, my treasury in the sunset Take a walk with me And I will show you It ain't why . . . It just is . . . Oh, my common one With the light in the head And the coat so old Oh, my high in the art of sufferin' one . . . Oh, my common one Take a walk with me Down by Avalon And I will show you It ain't why . . . It just is. Oh, my common one with the light in her head And the coat so fine And the sufferin' so high . . . All right now. Oh, my common one . . . It ain't why . . . It just is . . . That's all That's all there is about it. It just is. Can you feel the light? I want to go to church and say. In your soul . . . Ain't it high? Oh, my common one Oh, my storytime one Oh, my high in the art of sufferin' one Put your head on my shoulder . . . And you listen to the silence. Can you feel the silence?
Well, for a blog that should be highlighting the short poem, that's a stretch. Today's selection of poems from a back issue of Lilliput Review comes from issue #117. Perhaps there might be some revelation there: within and without same red tulip ~ Ed Baker
EVERYTHING THE MYSTERY THE WOOD THE SMALL ANIMALS THE BIRDS DEEP BEDS OF PINE NEEDLES EVERYTHING ~ John Harter We forget we're mostly water till the rain falls and every atom in our body starts to go home. ~ Albert Huffstickler
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