Rate-a-Poem Index

William Haskins

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since we're compiling quite a little collection of poems to discuss, i thought i'd index them... i'll continue to add to this list as we bring in more poems.

Funeral Blues by W.H. Auden
Added October 14, 2006 NEW

Rate-a-Poem: Tarantella by D.H. Lawrence
Added February 18, 2006

Rate-a-Poem: From the House of Yemanjá by Audre Lorde
Added February 15, 2006
Average Reader Rating (as of February 18, 2006): 4 Stars

Young in New Orleans by Charles Bukowski
Added February 2, 2006
Average Reader Rating (as of February 15, 2006): 3.7 Stars

I measure every Grief I meet by Emily Dickinson
Added January 21, 2006
Average Reader Rating (as of February 2, 2006): 4.2 Stars

The Force That Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower by Dylan Thomas
Added January 10, 2006
Average Reader Rating (as of February 2, 2006): 4 Stars

In Memoriam VIII by Alfred Lord Tennyson
Added January 4, 2006 by skylarburris
Average Reader Rating (as of January 10, 2006): 4.6 Stars

The Night Dances by Sylvia Plath
Added December 28, 2005 by Paint
Average Reader Rating (as of January 10, 2006): 4 Stars

A Dream for Winter by Arthur Rimbaud
Average Reader Rating (as of December 27, 2005): 4 Stars

A Man Said to the Universe by Stephen Crane
Average Reader Rating (as of December 27, 2005): 3.5 Stars

A Poison Tree by William Blake
Average Reader Rating (as of December 27, 2005): 4 Stars

A Study of Reading Habits by Philip Larkin
Average Reader Rating (as of December 27, 2005): 2.3 Stars

Ars Poetica by Archibald MacLeish
Average Reader Rating (as of December 27, 2005): 4.2 Stars

Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen
Average Reader Rating (as of December 27, 2005): 4.7 Stars

Glass by Robert Francis
Average Reader Rating (as of December 27, 2005): 3 Stars

Golden Oldie by Rita Dove
Average Reader Rating (as of December 27, 2005): 3.2 Stars

Her Kind by Anne Sexton
Average Reader Rating (as of December 27, 2005): 4.3 Stars

I Knew a Woman by Theodore Roethke
Average Reader Rating (as of December 27, 2005): 3.4 Stars

I Want to Write by Margaret Walker
Average Reader Rating (as of December 27, 2005): 3.8 Stars

Poem by William Carlos Williams
Average Reader Rating (as of December 27, 2005): 2 Stars

The Street by Octavio Paz
Average Reader Rating (as of December 27, 2005): 2.6 Stars

Woebegone by Yusef Komunyakaa
Average Reader Rating (as of December 27, 2005): 3.2 Stars
 
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maipenrai

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hi Will

Hi Will, how do I get my favourite poem up on the thread???
hope you can help .
bernie
 

kdnxdr

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The Creme de la Creme (sorry for any language slaughter)

It's DISCUSSION! Like eating the best steak of your life, or best veggie dish (your preference).

It doesn't get any better than this! I am sad to revisit this thread and realize what I have been missing as the labors of life have distracted me away from such incredible poetic experiences that are available to me, right under the pads of my little fingers! And, for free!! Who needs a movie when we have threads like this that involve such an eclectic group of people?
 

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Another good poem is 'The Guesthouse' by Rumi.
Alice, The Guesthouse is a stunning passage isn't it? From the fifth book of Rumi's Mathnawi. You might be interested in comparing the Colman Barks translation with R.A. Nicholson's, if you haven't already. As you probably know, Barks doesn't translate directly from the Farsi (despite describing himself as a translator), he rewrites others translations (often to great effect imo). Barks based his version of The Guesthouse on Nicholson's, but to me Nicholson's is far more profound and possibly closer to the fullness of Rumi's intentions.

It's probably very boring to anyone else but me, but here are the two versions:

Coleman Barks:

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

---


Nicholson (bearing in mind Rumi's penchant for tangents - in this case the continuation of the parable of the man and his ungrateful wife which I've taken out):

MV 3644 -3681:
This body, O youth, is a guest house: every morning a new guest comes running (into it).
Beware, do not say, “This (guest) is a burden to me,” for presently he will fly back into nonexistence.
Whatsoever comes into thy heart from the invisible world is they guest: entertain it well!
[...]
Comparing the daily thoughts that come into the heart with the new guests who from the beginning of
the day alight in the house and behave with arrogance and ill-temper towards the master of the house;
and concerning the merit of treating the guest with kindness and of suffering his haughty airs patiently.
Every day, too, at every moment a (different) thought comes, like an honoured guest, into thy bosom.
O (dear) soul, regard thought as a person, since (every) person derives his worth from thought and spirit.
If the thought of sorrow is waylaying (spoiling) joy, (yet) it is making preparations for joy.
It violently sweeps thy house clear of (all) else, in order that new joy from the source of good may enter in.
It scatters the yellow leaves from the bough of the heart, in order that incessant green leaves may
grow.
It uproots the old joy, in order that new delight may march in from the Beyond.

Poems in translation is a whole subject by itself, but I think Nicholson's has a far greater reach than Barks in this case. That said, Barks' work is far more accessible to modern readers and there's good reason why his Rumi is the best selling poet in America. :)