tribute: gwendolyn brooks
saw Gwendolyn brooks featured in Poetry Magazine
I hadn't heard of her before this. Anyway, she's fantastic and my new favorite.
...and guys I knew in the States, young officers, return from the front crying and trembling.
Gay chaps at the bar in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York ..........
-Lt. William Couch in the South Pacific
Gay Chaps at the Bar
We knew how to order. Just the dash
Necessary. The length of gayety in good taste.
Whether the raillery should be slightly iced
And given green, or served up hot and lush.
And we knew beautifully how to give to women
The summer spread, the tropics, of our love.
When to persist, or hold a hunger off.
Knew white speech. How to make a look an omen.
But nothing ever taught us to be islands.
And smart athletic language for this hour
Was not in the curriculum. No stout
Lesson showed how to chat with death. We brought
No brass fortissimo, among our talents,
To holler down the lions in this air.
(Poetry, November 1944,vol. 65, no. 2.)
Reading back issues of the magazine--trying to focus on a couple of new poems I've written at the end of this week/editing about 16 of my poems. Sometimes I should just leave things alone after awhile. Also finishing Kim's book on Poetry to keep me encouraged and smarter about how I'm doing all of this. I'm working on reading aloud, which is something I'll have to do for a larger audience in November. I will keep you posted on an exact where and when. They told me, but it was early in the morning and I was wiped out by coffee.