by Aram Saroyan
lighght
#2. Mattina
by Giuseppe Ungaretti
M’illumino d’immenso
#3. Frog Pond Haiku
by Matsuo Basho
An old silent pond
A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! Silence again.
#4. To His Mistress Going To Bed
by John Donne
Come, Madam, come, all rest my powers defy,
Until I labour, I in labour lie.
The foe oft-times having the foe in sight,
Is tir’d with standing though he never fight.
Off with that girdle, like heaven’s Zone glistering,
But a far fairer world encompassing.
Unpin that spangled breastplate which you wear,
That th’eyes of busy fools may be stopped there.
Unlace yourself, for that harmonious chime,
Tells me from you, that now it is bed time.
Off with that happy busk, which I envy,
That still can be, and still can stand so nigh.
Your gown going off, such beauteous state reveals,
As when from flowery meads th’hill’s shadow steals.
Off with that wiry Coronet and shew
The hairy Diadem which on you doth grow:
Now off with those shoes, and then safely tread
In this love’s hallow’d temple, this soft bed.
In such white robes, heaven’s Angels used to be
Received by men; Thou Angel bringst with thee
A heaven like Mahomet’s Paradise; and though
Ill spirits walk in white, we easily know,
By this these Angels from an evil sprite,
Those set our hairs, but these our flesh upright.
Licence my roving hands, and let them go,
Before, behind, between, above, below.
O my America! my new-found-land,
My kingdom, safeliest when with one man mann’d,
My Mine of precious stones, My Empirie,
How blest am I in this discovering thee!
To enter in these bonds, is to be free;
Then where my hand is set, my seal shall be.
Full nakedness! All joys are due to thee,
As souls unbodied, bodies uncloth’d must be,
To taste whole joys. Gems which you women use
Are like Atlanta’s balls, cast in men’s views,
That when a fool’s eye lighteth on a Gem,
His earthly soul may covet theirs, not them.
Like pictures, or like books’ gay coverings made
For lay-men, are all women thus array’d;
Themselves are mystic books, which only we
(Whom their imputed grace will dignify)
Must see reveal’d. Then since that I may know;
As liberally, as to a Midwife, shew
Thy self: cast all, yea, this white linen hence,
There is no penance due to innocence.
To teach thee, I am naked first; why then
What needst thou have more covering than a man.
SKA says
No. 1 is trash mascaradibg as poetry.
Nathaniel Winterson says
I don’t get the Ungaretti, but I presume it’s the Saroyan that isn’t a poem. Because it isn’t. The Donne is interestingly pre-Romantic.
gravenimage says
Nathaniel, Aram Soroyan is a fairly famous poet, heavily influenced by the Beats. “Lighght” is from 1965, and was published in the Chicago Riview.
https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/art-of-one-word-poem/
Drawing the word out adds extra emphasis.
Interestingly, Giuseppe Ungaretti’s “Mattina” says something similar, albeit rather more beautifully.
mgoldberg says
“A one-word poem is, in its own way, a structure that embodies all of McLuhan’s essential characteristics and hence reflects the unique reality of the time during which it was made.”
And what then is ‘reality’ if it is unique and merely because of the time it was made, as opposed to later today or next week? That’s a word salad explanation, it seems to me…. That words have meaning and a force and humor seems far more illustrative than one word misspellings……
gravenimage says
One of These is Not a Poem (#847 in a Series)
……………………………………
Of course, one can–and many have–argued that that these are all poems–all have been published as such. Thank you, Mr. Fitzgerald.
rubiconcrest says
It’s a trick Q, he did not define ‘these’.: The title is not a poem.
gravenimage says
Could be, Rubiconcrest. But this is a series, so not sure why this would be a joke only in this case.
sporticus says
*Define “poem”.
*Is a trans-woman a woman.
Is a trans-poem a poem.
Daniel Moore says
Mr. Fitzgerald–I would be interested to know your accomplishments as a poet. I’ve been writing poems for nearly sixty years, with various publications and one book. The Basho and Donne are certainly poems, and good ones. The other two mentioned I do not know. I’ve disagreed with some of your choices . . . but then again poetry is in the eye of the beholder.
Hugh Fitzgerald says
My accomplishmens as a poet? None.
But I am a good reader.
St Croix says
They are all poems. But if one can choose, that shows your mind as to what a poem is.
That’s my take!
The first two, “sound poetry” and some don’t see this as poetry.
Saroyan– I might say I ‘like it”
Ungaretto–I could say it all day!
Basho–simplicity is most sophisticated
Donne–blush! Didn’t the clairvoyant young wife in That Hideous Strength have a thesis to write on Donne, which she couldn’t seem to get around to, having lost interest in it? Not sure why that springs to mind. (My mind is sympathetic to poetry).