For those looking for some delightful light satire/verse, hie thee quickly to Catholic Light and see this post from Alexandra Baldwin's mother via the redoubtable Ms. Baldwin herself--"Sister Nouveau Mary Addresses the Statue of the Blessed Mother. " Enjoy!
A Magnificent Magnificat
I have written before that I thought the villanelle must be among the more difficult poetic forms to get right. The right balance of line with new material is absolutely critical--and the better villanelles, it seems to me, allow for minor variations in the repeated lines. Dylan has offered a truly magnificent villanelle based on the Magnificat. EVERYONE, poetry lover or not, should see this truly wonderful poem. It is of such quality that one feels that momentary "Salieri" feeling in the presence of a Mozart. Thank you, Dylan the poem is superb--and it should have made its debut somewhere like "First Things" or some such other publication, not on a website. You must see about getting this wider circulation.
In my short sojourn in the blogworld, I have been delighted by the number of talented writers and now poets I have found. Recently (as in this morning) Dylan, our friend at La Vita Nuova, and able poetry critic decided to be more forthcoming about his own career as poet. Check out his contribution.
Our own Lane Core has a page devoted to his poetry. I owe Mr. Core an apology for not explaining myself better in a note about his own poetry. I indicated that his poetry was "not to my taste." And this is actually an inaccurate representation--it was, in fact, "not immediately to my taste." As with all such things that I do not take to immediately, I find that they grow upon reflection. Those interested in the poetry world would do themselves a service by visiting his poetry page and then dropping a note. There is nothing a poet or writer appreciates so much as hearing from someone who has read something. I may need to add Mr. Core's poetry page to my own side list here.
Again, you owe to yourselves and to the world at large to support your local poets. Heaven knows there are few enough to start with , and those with some form of recognizable faith informing their writing are vanishingly few. And Catholic Poets--to date I can name 4 worthy of the name and a possible fifty. (Of course Dylan could name twenty-three without pausing for a breath--but then, we all have our skills.)
Read Ms. Knapp on the frightening reality of her blog. Abagail is partially right--to those not used to it, someone with such a clear focus can be very daunting. All I can say is an encouraging--"Keep on Daunting!" A beautiful column, as usual.
Basho
One day, less than that, and I'm already endlessly in debt to Mr. Bell. This wonderful link is the latest in things discovered on his blog. I have an edition of Basho called, The Narrow Road to Oku which has magnificent plates accompanying the poems, along with some of the original Japanese for me to puzzle and marvel over (those chains of syllables that appear to have no real connectors in the way of verbs--fascinating stuff). But at this site you may choose one of four different translators or read the original Japanese, if you're so inclined. Even if you don't read it, it is wonderful to look at. I always marvel at the way that Japanese rains down on the page in beautiful rivulets. Given that they have phonograms (two different sets--one for Japanese words, one for non-Japanese) and Logograms, the symbols move from ripe, plump meaningful mysterys, to spare but gorgeous squiggles. One of the phonograms looks like it is escaping from being a "schwa." Enjoy the site. I'll be adding it to the permanent list, as this is one of my very favorite works of Asian poetry.
Dylan has blogged a poem from a Carmelite poet I have long considered placing on the site. The poetry of Jessica Powers is, for the most part, quite lovely and quite evocative. We have in our Chapter Book for Carmelite meetings a poem of Sr. Miriam which can be sung to the Music of "Ode to Joy." The OCDS publication Clarion Call often includes one of Sr. Miriam's poems. So, go and enjoy. I'll just have to find another poet to blog first.
Sara Teasdale
Dylan has tried, and come close, but no cigar. Sara is still Sara, hard as she tries. She takes a subject like moonlight--one that is literally dipping with poetic cliche and ready to drool poetry all over some innocent bystander, and turns it into. . . well read the poem and decide for yourself. For Sara, I'd say it was magnificent, but, we are all given different talents and I fear Ms. Teasdale's were not among the first order.
