Vox Populi
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James Wright: Depressed by a Book of Bad Poetry, I Walk Toward an Unused Pasture and Invite the Insects to Join Me
Relieved, I let the book fall behind a stone.
I climb a slight rise of grass.
I do not want to disturb the ants
Who are walking single file up the fence post,
Carrying small white petals,
Casting shadows so frail that I can see through them.
I close my eyes for a moment and listen.
The old grasshoppers
Are tired, they leap heavily now,
Their thighs are burdened.
I want to hear them, they have clear sounds to make.
Then lovely, far off, a dark cricket begins
In the maple trees.
From the website of North Dakota State University. Included in Vox Populi for educational purposes only.
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12 comments on “James Wright: Depressed by a Book of Bad Poetry, I Walk Toward an Unused Pasture and Invite the Insects to Join Me”
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This entry was posted on August 30, 2019 by Vox Populi in Environmentalism, Humor and Satire, Most Popular, Opinion Leaders, Poetry and tagged A Blessing, An Appreciation of the Poetry of Robert Gibb, Another Monday Night at the Dirty Gerund Poetry Show, Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry Ohio, Depressed by a Book of Bad Poetry I Walk Toward an Unused Pasture and Invite the Insects to Join Me, James Wright, On Poetry Silence and Freedom, pastoral poetry, what is poetry for?.Shortlink
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So fabulous! I need this poem like blood, like a clear drawn drink of water. Like my next breath.
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Me too, Sean. Me too.
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Third line from the end seals it.
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Indeed!
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I read the poem twice — then one more time aloud, and ohhh what an exquisite sigh of utter gratitude I sighed!
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Yes, it is a profound ars poetica disguised as a nature description.
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Wow wow wow – what an amazing poem. I could write a dissertation about this poem. Thank you Michael. And I love the “related” items with it.
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Thank you for offering this poem.
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Thank YOU, Tricia, for your steadfast support of Vox Populi!
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The New Yorker has a podcast in which Kevin Young and Ariel Francisco discuss Wright’s “By a Lake in Minnesota.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2019/08/kevin-young-and-ariel-francisco-consider-james-wrights-by-a-lake-in-minnesota
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Thanks for the link, Arlene!
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Very good/bad, but definitely not up/down to Marzials’ level.
Cheers!
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