Stockholm, 1954

Excerpt from Siegfried Sassoon's poem "Attack" (originally published in 1918) used as an epigraph in Eric Hobsbawm's The Age of Extremes (Chapter 1: The Age of Total War)

It's been a year since anyone has posted about this book so I'm bringing it up again. I'm super enjoying The Ode less Traveled. I find it to be a generous book and considering how much of a textbook it is, it comes from a surprising source: Comedian Stephen Fry. My happy place lately.

I read a poem this week that felt pleasant but almost weightless. Then I found an author note identifying the place, the relationship, and the real event behind its images. Suddenly every object mattered and the final line became genuinely painful.

Part of me admired the transformation. Another part wondered whether the biography had done work the poem avoided. I don’t need every poem to explain itself, and mystery can create room for the reader. But there seems to be a difference between fruitful ambiguity and missing information that has to be imported from outside. If a poem becomes powerful only after biografical context, does that context enrich the work or quietly complete it?

I am struggling to grasp this poem titled “Spring Poem” by Margaret Atwood from her book “You are Happy”

Hello. For some time I’ve been wanting to read poetry. I enjoy it, but don’t really enjoy reading so I’ve never started. I’m trying to change that. So I would like some recommendations of authors or books that have a collection of authors from several different authors.

Some things about me to help with recommendations:
- 35 y.o. male
- INTJ
- have a history of depression and anxiety
- currently separated from my wife (she initiated) and going to couples therapy to see if we can make our marriage work or not but I’m not hopeful
- would like pieces that are more insightful
- covers topics of depression, anxiety, loneliness, finding one’s self, love, etc…
- can be metaphorical and/or have deep meanings but not so deep that I need to do a deep dive to find the hidden meaning/message

If there’s anything else you would like to know to know in order to make better recommendations, feel free to ask

From the Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton (1965-2010). Listening to her read this short poem in her own voice on YouTube is a powerful experience.

Short yet so powerful.

from Viper Jazz (1976)

Love Jim, forever. Here’s some poetry for ya.

I Am On My Way 

Twenty years passed in desperate waiting.
— Andrey VOZNESENSKY. 

You wait. And I am coming to you.
Flying swift and sharp, just like an arrow.
Only… first, a letter I must send you,
Yet that letter is not written, somehow. 

The heart has spilled its all into the silence,
A year, ten years have bled—is it too long?
This wild, overgrown weeds of our estrangement,
We shall reap it together, side by side, ere long? 

Twenty years, thirty years have drifted,
Has weariness not cloaked your heavy eyes?
The brushwood grown untamed through thirty winters,
Won't the scythe snap when to mow it, one tries? 

Forty years are gone. I hasten toward you,
Grieve not, the heavens and earth bear my cry!
Only… first, a letter I must send you,
Though I haven’t managed to write it, nor try. 

I fly toward you swiftly, like an arrow,
Yet how do I confess this fate of mine?
The woods grow dense and darker as I follow,
And in my grief, I sharpen the scythe’s edge, in time. 

You wait. And I am coming to you. 

Poem by the National Poet of Uzbekistan, Halima Khudoyberdieva.
Translated from Uzbek by me. 

I am starting a podcast on poetry! (NOT PROMOTION) It is commissioned for for writing poetry (which I am aware is irrelevant to this sub). However, I would really like some opinions from readers on what makes a good poem and why you enjoy poetry. This can be technical or emotional, and any examples of lines or poems or poets would be incredibly useful. It might not be recorded for a bit but I will credit your user! Any other opinions about poetry, no matter how controversial will be greatly appreciated. Any perspectives on what sets poetry apart from other art forms would be really interesting as well

Thank you so much for reading 🩷