« The Haiku Masters of Japan drop in for a visit [by David Lehman] | Main | "The Princess Borghese Breaks Up With Talma On Lake Bourget" [by George Green] »
“That Too”
A long walk up West Street along the piers.
The sky—right now the sun,
the clouds, a few seconds of light yellow.
The deepest being being a longing
to satisfy the longing for a solitude of two.
Gertrude Stein’s “Composition as Explanation,” that too.
Surely the blacks and golds
are the depth of a late October afternoon. Surely
the blues and greens fired by crimson are the sea.
from A Certain Clarity: Selected Poems by Lawrence Joseph
Ed. note: Happy birthday, Larry.
As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.
Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.
Your Information
(Name and email address are required. Email address will not be displayed with the comment.)
Radio
I left it
on when I
left the house
for the pleasure
of coming back
ten hours later
to the greatness
of Teddy Wilson
"After You've Gone"
on the piano
in the corner
of the bedroom
as I enter
in the dark
from New and Selected Poems by David Lehman
Here, and in all he writes, Lawrence Joseph has the most central thing in poetry-- the sentence-melody in the lines.
Posted by: Robert Pinsky | March 12, 2022 at 11:36 AM