Tonight my hand
can’t read or write.
And now
as red female hair blows across my face,
as something stirs on the ground,
as the trees whisper in the dark,
and as the moon rises far off
where we can’t see,
my hand on my wife’s flesh
before the trees, birds, and insects,
I want the right of life,
of the leopard at the spring, of the seed splitting open–
I want the right of the first man.
How very sensual.
Re: but to die to live
3
Sunday today.
Today they took me out in the sun for the first time.
And I just stood there, struck for the first time in my life
by how far away the sky is,
how blue
and how wide.
Then I respectfully sat down on the earth.
I leaned back against the wall.
For a moment no trap to fall into,
no struggle, no freedom, no wife.
Only earth, sun, and me...
I am happy.
This is Nazim Hikmet by the way, he was a Turkish poet, among many other things, who died in the 60s. This was written when he had been in solitary confinement, presumably for being a Communist.
Re: but to die to live
Commies deserve to be in jail
Just like this mad Turkish male
They are a menace to us all
They must each be made to fall
Re: but to die to live
Hey hey, I'm a former Marxist!
Re: but to die to live
My teacher says there is no such thing as "deconstructionalist" poetry because a deconstructionalist is a critic by nature whereas the poet creates. The intertwining of the two philosophies is a very obsure one apparantly. Links links!
Re: but to die to live
Well Hikmet is definitely not deconstructionalist. I showed you some postmodern prose once but you have obviously forgotten. More later, I have to shower and run to school.
Re: but to die to live
Meanwhile find me some delicious poetry for the afternoon, I don't have money for lunch.
Re: but to die to live
Hiccup, your teacher is wrong on an important premise, I don't think postmodern supposes dichotomies, hence there is no distinction between critic and creator.
Re: but to die to live
a man in confinement, was bahadur shah zafar, when he said
kitna hai bad-naseeb zafar, dafan ke liye
do gaz zameen bhee na mili kooye yaar me
and believe me i feel he had more purpose to his poetry then what u have just posted up there.... :p
Re: but to die to live
I could have sworn this was written by someone in the Guantanamo concentration camp…