Weekly Edition #51
Art by Ofra Amit
A Love Song by William Carlos Williams
What have I to say to you
When we shall meet?
Yet—
I lie here thinking of you.
The stain of love
Is upon the world.
Yellow, yellow, yellow,
It eats into the leaves,
Smears with saffron
The horned branches that lean
Heavily
Against a smooth purple sky.
There is no light—
Only a honey-thick stain
That drips from leaf to leaf
And limb to limb
Spoiling the colours
Of the whole world.
I am alone.
The weight of love
Has buoyed me up
Till my head
Knocks against the sky.
See me!
My hair is dripping with nectar—
Starlings carry it
On their black wings.
See, at last
My arms and my hands
Are lying idle.
How can I tell
If I shall ever love you again
As I do now?
Other poems I enjoyed reading this week:
"Sometimes
I don’t want to show these poems
to anyone, sometimes
I want to remain hidden, deep in the coals
with the one who pulls the stars
through a telescope’s glass, the one who listens
for the click of the lock, the one
who kisses softly a woman’s eyes." -from The Light Above Cities by Jay Leeming
"I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark.
In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one spoke of him again.
You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you’ll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go." -Suicide in the Trenches by Siegfried Sassoon
"One day we’ll lie down and not get up.
One day, all we guard will be surrendered.
Until then, we’ll go on learning to recognize
what we love, and what it takes
to tend what isn’t for our having.
So often, fear has led me
to abandon what I know I must relinquish
in time. But for the moment,
I’ll listen to her dream,
and she to mine, our mutual hearing calling
more and more detail into the light
of a joint and fragile keeping." -from To Hold by Li-Young Lee
"Comes in from a downpour
Shaking water in every direction—
A collaborative condition:
Gathered, shed, spread, then
Forgotten, reabsorbed. Like love
From a lifetime ago, and mud
A dog has tracked across the floor."
-The Everlasting Self by Tracy K. Smith
Recommended Listening:
Radiohead Dropped 18 Hours of Unreleased Music
Samundar Ki Teh Mein - Poor Rich Boy You Can Call Me Al - Paul Simon Abre Las Manos - Devendra Banhart There's No Home - Jana Hunter Glue - Bicep
Links of the Week:
to be or to be (a video blog about being human in this world)
In 1886, the US Government Commissioned 7,500 Watercolor Paintings of Every Known Fruit in the World
Why Arctic Ice Matters Even More Than You Think
Marina Abramović and Ulay Are Reuniting to Write a Joint Memoir
Saype's grassy graffiti: meet the street-art sensation who sprays mountains
The website hasn't been as active as I'd have liked, but do spend some time reading these new poems published on The Alipore Post!
Also, Bengaluru Poetry Festival is taking place this weekend. Register here to attend.