for hilda doolittle
o for some sharp swish of a branch--
there is no scent of resin
in this place,
no taste of bark, of coarse weeds,
aromatic, astringent--
only border on border of scented pinks.
from “song”
the greatest of the imagists,there is no scent of resin
in this place,
no taste of bark, of coarse weeds,
aromatic, astringent--
only border on border of scented pinks.
from “song”
yr sculptor’s sensibility let
u fix, even animate an icon
with all its sensate properties –
be it snow-ribbed sand or a
frost-defying green-fleshed
melon or a grecian statue
stepping out of marble into
life. each image claimed yr
loving care. u took essential
wordstones, chipped away
until their roughshapes came,
surrendered to yr smoothing.
yr poet’s touch set free the
phrase whose embedded cells,
figures & motifs made them
much the more than syllables,
shaped them into cadenced
beats, into periods & points
of motion & arrival… & then
u did the unthinkable, u
shed yr imagist clothes, yr
impersonality & moved on,
to the long poem wherein u,
the poet-prophet, walked thru’
bleak & broken landscapes,
amid the ruins of modernist
masculine symbol systems
seeking the goddess, the
sexually ecstatic mystery;
giving a feminine voice to
classic myths, creating bold,
new woman myths & etching
them on a woman’s wax-coated
palimpsest soul.
©Joseph McNair;2009
her movement from premier imagist to as you say poet/prophet is still mind boggling. But a recurring trend in all of yr tributes is the evolution of the female voice free of patriarchial restrictions. I like what you have done here
ReplyDeleteNice poem, great poet to write about, i love the mithological touch in her poems.Important person in regards to the feminist movements.
ReplyDeleteI am new to your site and have been taken aback of your ability to reach into the words of a poet an give honor of the poet and poetry. As a woman I am able to accept the currents that you express of this poet, job well done.
ReplyDeleteReally nice poem, I can tell that you really like females the way you compare the feminist movement to the voice is very creativity.
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