|
|
|
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THREE PANELS: GONE, by MARK IRWIN Poet's Biography
First Line: We would like to speak, but only
Subject(s): Language; Memory
First Line: We would like to speak, but only
Subject(s): Language; Memory
We would like to speak, but only
wind comes from our mouths. Some gaze
at the sky. Others pick up rocks, looking for words,
while others, and I say this with great sorrow, others
stand in the shadows around objects
they wish to unname. How long it takes
to forget that a bee is a bee, not to notice the gold
hum shivering, pendulous, on a flower. "Close
your eyes now," they say to a child, "and peel the name
off the love-wounded-object like a scab. Now
listen to what's gone and remember the petals'
dizzying vanilla scent all the pushing way up
and how you would call and call and call."
http://www.middlebury.edu/~nereview
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
MEMORY AS A HEARING AID by TONY HOAGLAND
THE SAME QUESTION by JOHN HOLLANDER
FORGET HOW TO REMEMBER HOW TO FORGET by JOHN HOLLANDER
ON THAT SIDE by LAWRENCE JOSEPH
MEMORY OF A PORCH by DONALD JUSTICE
BEYOND THE HUNTING WOODS by DONALD JUSTICE
THREE PANELS: A GIFT by MARK IRWIN