“This Be The Verse”, Philip Larkin

What a title, I love this independently of the poem. But I kinda agree kinda disagree with the sentiment. At least it’s sing-songy in its disillusionment? I’m entertained by the final two lines. And it reminds me of advice that my own father would give me, sans the acknowledgement of really any of the humaneness that comes before that last line. Well. I sent this to my mother along with “Do not ask your children to strive” by William Martin, though I only sent the latter to my brothers. More optimistic angle.

“One-Act Play In Which Apologies Must Be Made To Chekhov”, Dalton Day

I came across this piece and reminded me of Antonia describing Chekhov’s gun to me, as well as when we went to see Uncle Vanya at the Pasadena Playhouse and what a funny time that was, ask either of us but probably her for a probably-not-as-hilarious-as-we-thought-it-was recounting of that night. Other than that, I’m really not too sure what to make of this poem. However, it reminds me of the following poem, which I do quite like:

“One-Act Play In Which We Float Facedown In The Center Of A Lake, A Position Known As The Dead Man’s Float”, Dalton Day

This poem makes me want to get his collection at some point, apparently 41 of these one-act plays.

“Horses Explain Things to Me”, Bretty Elizabeth Jenkins

I can’t quite describe it but maybe you shall experience it too: somehow, I read this as a horse plodding up and down and I know that makes no sense but how wonderful? Ekphrastic, I suppose. I saw some collection of ekphrastic poems and arts and I want to possess it as well as get Jenny a copy.

“The Poem”, Franz Wright

I’ve been trying to recall this poem for so long–I’ve had this line, eyes closed forever to find you, stuck in my head for eons now. Then I remembered the love letter from a tree bit and finally found it. I mean, what a poem. What a poem. I’m ruminating on the lines a bit more presently. I remember resonating with the final stanza quite a bit when finally splitting myself from Rachel, but these days it’s the first two that do me in.

“Summer Solstice 2022”, Jeanette Winterson

Not a poem, but a little newsletter piece of sorts. I think it’s nice. Kinda touches on sonder and empathy and all.

“[I aborted two daughters, how do I know they were girls]”, Diane Seuss

It’s the third one here. I’ve seen this circulate on instagram maybe 4 or 5 times now. I remember one of the times it circulated, I had just gone with Kristine to watch a play rendition of The Great Gatsby which was quite good and the scene where the mechanic is holding his dead wife was a pieta pose of sorts and made me remember this and I think I showed her this poem as well as the famous Michelangelo sculpture of Jesus in his mother’s arms. I enjoy Seuss’ flow.

“Celestial Music”, Louise Gluck

I was watching my cousin’s wedding on youtube, weeks after the fact, but anyway it was decently religious and that made me uncomfortable and reminded me of this poem. And I want to talk to him and his mom and other siblings and such because they all seem like nice good people and I’m genuinely curious their angle on religion and such. And I think this cousin in particular rediscovered it during college, and so consciously went toward it. For now, this poem is my working model of sorts. I asked my dad what he thought about the wedding and religious aspects and he still hasn’t responded over a day later, though he has texted the group chat with my brothers and I multiple times, once even with a selfie of him getting a car wash after work. For shame.
Tangentially, I’m working on implicit surfaces currently (research @ Princeton) and was thinking about religion as one of an infinite number of possible higher-dimensional functions that could fit the 4-D surface that is reality as we perceive it, and how ridiculous it sounds to overcommit to a single possible function when there are so many other possibilities and none of them provable or disprovable and most of the infinity probably unimaginable. Just some of them happened to turn up earlier than others, I guess, or happened to be organizationally better at keeping a consistent following and raising money and whatnot. As a side note, have you heard of the Children’s Crusade? If not, look it up, lol. Read about it in Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five I believe. What a trip. The human condition, TM.

A song that I’ve been enjoying lately: Re: Stacks, Bon Iver.