Thursday, 13 September 2007

DHL ... & autumn ...

This week was the birthday of D. H. Lawrence.  Often forgotten is the fact that Lawrence was a master poet, really a poet first, as was Hermann Hesse.  He excelled at all lengths, but was perhaps one of the finest poets ever in the short form.  Here are two examples:

Nothing to Save

 There is nothing to save, now all is lost

 but a tiny core of stillness in the heart

 like the eye of the violet.

Self Pity

 

 I never saw a wild thing

 sorry for itself.

 A small bird will drop frozen from a bough

 without ever having felt sorry for itself.

Nothing to Save is reminiscent of another great short poem, one of my personal favorites, by James Wright:

The Jewel

 

 There is this cave

 In the air behind my body

 That nobody is going to touch.

 A cloister, a silence

 Closing around a blossom of fire.

 When I stand upright in the wind,

 My bones turn to dark emeralds.

 

Taking a look backward this week at Lilliput #119, which nicely coincides with the season.  Here are three short subjects on the coming (and past) fall season:

Sycamore

 One day all the leaves blow away.

 I have been worrying

 about the wrong things.

                               ~ Ray Skjelbred

fall colors -

at the end of balloon strings

balloons

                 ~ Barry George

 

 

autumn rain 

memories of love

fall into the sea

~ Lee Gurga

Posted by donw714 at 08:35 EDT | Post Comment | Permalink
Updated: Friday, 14 September 2007 07:43 EDT

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