Friday, April 04, 2025

OBSCURE POET

 


MARINA TSVETAEVA    

(1892-1941)

Russian poet

Published first collection of poems, Evening Album, at age 18.

Life coincided with the Russian Revolution

Married in 1912; had two daughters and one son

Emigrated to Paris in 1912 with family where they lived in poverty.    

Corresponded with Rainier Maria Rilke and Boris Pasternak.

Returned to Russia in 1939

Died by suicide in 1941


from “An Attempt at Jealousy”

How is your life with that other one?
Simpler, is it? A stroke of the oars
and a long coastline—
and the memory of me

is soon a drifting island
(not in the ocean—in the sky!)
Souls—you will be sisters—
sisters, not lovers.

How is your life with an ordinary
woman? without the god inside her?
The queen supplanted—

How do you breathe now?
Flinch, waking up?
What do you do, poor man?

“Hysterics and interruptions—
enough! I’ll rent my own house!”
How is your life with that other,
you, my own.

Is the breakfast delicious?
(If you get sick, don’t blame me!)
How is it, living with a postcard?
You who stood on Sinai.

How’s your life with a tourist
on Earth? Her rib (do you love her?)
is it to your liking?

How’s life? Do you cough?
Do you hum to drown out the mice in your mind?

How do you live with cheap goods: is the market rising?
How’s kissing plaster-dust?

Are you bored with her new body?
How’s it going, with an earthly woman,
with no sixth sense?

                                                         Are you happy?
No? In a shallow pit—how is your life,
my beloved? Hard as mine
with another man?

1924

NEW WORD

 


Thursday, April 03, 2025

Tuesday, April 01, 2025

TDOV-THOUGHTS

Just thinking about Transgender Day of Visibility, I wonder how many folks were encouraged to proceed on their journey to transition. By being out and living authentically, I pray that someone was helped. 

I am mindful of the struggles of folks who want live authentic but are are afraid of crossing that path.  There may be someone watching me who is at a crossroads. I pray that they move ahead toward being the person they truly are.

NEW WORD

 


Monday, March 31, 2025

INFLUENCES

Similar to my taste in music, my writing influences are eclectic. 

Major influences: Edgar Allan Poe, Lanston Hughes, Sylvia Plath, Herman Melville,                                 Paul Laurence Dunbar, Jack Kerouac 

Other Influences: Maya Angelou, Zora Neal Hurston, William Shakespeare, John                                     Milton, Mary Oliver

Authors I Want To Read: D. H. Lawrence, Ezra Pound, Walt Whitman, Derek                                                      Walcott 

NEW WORD

 


Friday, March 28, 2025

NEW WORD

 


OBSCURE POET

 


GEORGE OPPEN  (1908-1994)

Chief exponent of Objectivism,  which emphasized simplicity and clarity.

Becam more engaged in politicsduring the great Depression, becoming a member of the Communist Party.  Supported workers rights.

Discrete Series- Oppen's first book published in 1934

Did not write poetry again until 1958.

The Materials- Oppen's 2nd book

Poetry is lean and precise using words sparingly

Won Pulitzer Prize in 1968 for his book Of Being Numerous.

Died from complications of Alzheimer's disease

NEW WORD