17 Comments
Aug 19Liked by Jeffrey Streeter

I remember when you discovered Mary Oliver, Jeffrey. She is often belittled for the crime of being incredibly popular. “One wild and precious life” has entered common speech for a reason: It gives voice to what most of us feel but few can say in their own words.

Thank you for the introduction to the magnificent Kunitz poem. Do you know “The Layers?” It brings me to my knees. Now off to find MO’s poem about Kunitz.

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Thank you, Rona. That's a great point about Oliver's most famous phrase. And thank you for pointing me to "The Layers." I know I've seen the phrase "Live in the layers, not on the litter,” but I hadn't read the powerful poem it came from.

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Aug 19Liked by Jeffrey Streeter

The line that reverberates for me is “How shall the heart be reconciled to its feast of losses?” Not a young person’s poem.

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Yes, a wonderful line. And certainly more meaningful to me now than it would have been 40 years ago!

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I hadn't read this Kunitz poem before. What a wonderful use of iambic pentameter (and shrinking trimeter). The lines are stately and tragic. Thanks for the link! Remarkably, this little basket of textual associations makes perfect sense. 😅

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Thank you for finding this post and commenting, Tara!

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Aug 31Liked by Jeffrey Streeter

Thanks for introducing me to “Stanley Kunitz” by Mary Oliver. I cannot think of a better reflection on the end of summer than this quietly lyrical image for Labor Day Weekend:

“petals float upward,

their colors exploding,

and trees open their moist

pages of thunder -

it has happened every summer for years.”

Lovely! It brings to mind Wendell Berry’s Sabbath sequence—glorious yet grounded lyricism that embraces stewardship in its purest form towards nature & others as inextricably connected in a spiritual sense.

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Isn't it a gorgeous poem? and thank you for pointing me in the direction of the Wendell Berry. And happy Labor Day!

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Sep 1Liked by Jeffrey Streeter

I think your rural heritage would make Berry’s work particularly meaningful & resonant to you. Here is one of my favorite Berry poems. It currently is on display in my home library—“The Peace of Wild Things”—

https://search.app/WboTMLn2FQQfiNYE6. Profound yet wonderfully accessible!

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This wonderful poem by Berry (apposite name for a poet who finds solace in nature) which I've just read for the first time reminds me of the nineteenth century English poet, John Clare who struggled to find his peace in the natural world he inhabited and loved. Here is his poem, I am.

I Am!

I am—yet what I am none cares or knows;

My friends forsake me like a memory lost:

I am the self-consumer of my woes—

They rise and vanish in oblivious host,

Like shadows in love’s frenzied stifled throes

And yet I am, and live—like vapours tossed

Into the nothingness of scorn and noise,

Into the living sea of waking dreams,

Where there is neither sense of life or joys,

But the vast shipwreck of my life’s esteems;

Even the dearest that I loved the best

Are strange—nay, rather, stranger than the rest.

I long for scenes where man hath never trod

A place where woman never smiled or wept

There to abide with my Creator, God,

And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,

Untroubling and untroubled where I lie

The grass below—above the vaulted sky.

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That's beautiful. Thank you for sharing, Richard.

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Sep 2Liked by Jeffrey Streeter

Thank you for sharing this beautiful poem! I am not familiar with John Clare’s work, but I appreciate this introduction. What substantive connections regarding value formation across the ages. The concluding stanza is so moving—as I think we are all seeking that grace-imbued haven under “the vaulted sky” to experience fullness of contentment in vitalized community.

Are you familiar with the Over the Field Substack? It features many thought-provoking discussions of Wendell Berry’s writings. It might be of interest to you!

https://open.substack.com/pub/overthefield?r=3urpl&utm_medium=ios

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Thank you very much for your thoughtful and sensitive reply. I'm no John Clare expert but you can do worse than read his Wikipedia entry which is a decent introductory summary.

I have only just joined Substack and took out my first paid subscription , this English Republic of Letters only a few days ago. So I'm very much feeling my way here. I'm sure the Over the Field Substack is fascinating as are so many other Substacks and writers. I feel as if I've just come across Aladdin's Cave and am spoilt for choice, not quite sure which route(s) to take with all its potential treasures. I've always been an avid consumer of poetry but my published/broadcast writing is fiction, drama and a forthcoming memoir, Highlife and My Other Lives. Thank you again.

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Sep 2Liked by Jeffrey Streeter

I am always delighted to encounter a new poet and appreciate you taking the time to share such a lovely & meaningful work. Like you, I am very new to Substack as well. It is very easy to feel pleasantly overwhelmed by all of the beautifully written works—a delightful problem to encounter! Are you planning to create your own Substack? With your extensive writing background, it sounds like an ideal forum for you!

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Hi Alisa. Let's hope Richard shares his work here. He's a fabulous writer.

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I adore Stanley Kunitz, allude to him in one of my short stories--and I met him when he was inducted into The Academy of American Poets, and he actually read the poem I allude "orange on the head" --not the title. I own and have read all his books. The allusion appears in my short story "To Swim?" in _The Woman Who Never Cooked. Jeffrey, our reading connects us.

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Wow, indeed, Mary, our reading connects us. BTW, I've just bought the Kindle edition of The Woman Who Never Cooked. I'm looking forward so much to reading it!

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