Friday Poem

Environmental & Science Education, Poetry, Art & Environment

Ed Hessler

I am very much influenced in my choice of today's poem because of a recent review of a biography by the late Jane Kenyon. The review was published in the journal Poetry by New York University professor, Maya C. Popa.

The review, in the words of the subtitle, notes that the new biography "frees the poet from the shadow of her famous older husband," the late Donald Hall. Based on the review what I "knew" about Ms. Kenyon was minimal and I think most of it was wrong. I strongly recommend the review.

Today's poem is from Fourteen Lines and is part of a series - a very ambitious task - by the blog's author on the Minnesota poet Robert Bly. Earlier, the Fourteen Lines blogger devoted a month engaging readers with some of the work of the late poet, John Berryman. It helped me understand his work - the famous Dream Songs, most of which I'd always found baffling. His current project promises to be longer by several months. And it too is a gift.

 

I'd never read the Bly poem in memory of Jane Kenyon and because I've been unable to find it on-line I refer you to it. The poem is preceded by a quote from Bly on ecstasy and thought.

 

Thanks to Tom, Fourteen Lines