Monday, November 8, 2010
I used to think that I didn't like poetry but then I realized that might be like saying one does not like music. There are poems that I like very much and think you should know about.
The Thing Is
by Ellen Bass
to love life, to love it even
when you have no stomach for it
and everything you've held dear
crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,
your throat filled with the silt of it.
when grief sits with you, its tropical heat
thickening the air, heavy has water
more fit for gills than lungs;
when grief weights you like your own flesh
only more of it, an obesity of grief,
you think, How can a body withstand this?
Then you hold life like a face
between your palms, a plain face,
no charming smile, no violet eyes,
and you say, yes, I will take you
I will love you, again.
6 comments:
goosebumps! i got them. thanks.
Elisa...is your pen-name Ellen Bass?
darn...
I've heard that scientists take things that are difficult to understand to try to make them simple, and poets take simple ideas and makes them difficult to understand. I like this poem too.
Snap, Elisa! I like this very much. Very very much. "Then you hold life like a face..." That's some beautiful imagery. Goodness.
poetry is awesome. prime example.
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