Lola Haskins: Pick of the Week [ed. Terence Winch]

 

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The Discovery

 

On walking, in my seventies, down a leafy street

behind two women in their early forties who

are chatting to each other as companionably

as birds on a limb, and having thought, with

happy anticipation, ah, I'll be their age soon!

it occurs to me that I've lost my mind—but

just then the clouds evanesce and light pours

through the oaks and ash, to form lace on

the pavement lovely enough to be sewn

into dresses, and I see that time is as

random as the patterns the sun makes on

any given day as it filters through leaves,

and as illusory as a baby being born, and

as strange as the years of our lives that

go by without returning, and as equal as

the one friend's auburn hair and the red leaf

she steps over, which the wind has abandoned

for love of her.  And now, having finally

seen that the world is every minute new,

I realize that I'm only a little younger than

those women after all, and I step between

them, and we speak as we walk, and by

the time we part, each of us in her own way

has told the others how lucky she is,

to have been alive in such a beautiful place.

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Lola Haskins has published 14 books of poetry and three of nonfiction. Her work has appeared widely in magazines and been broadcast on the BBC and NPR. Her latest collection, Homelight (Charlotte Lit Press 2023), was named Poetry Book of the Year by Southern Literary Review, and was a Hoffer Grand Prize finalist. The one before that, Asylum (University of Pittsburgh, 2019), was featured in the New York Times Magazine and will shortly be featured in The John Clare Journal. Past honors include the Iowa Poetry Prize, two NEAs, two Florida Book Awards, narrative poetry prizes from Southern Poetry Review and New England Poetry Review, a Florida's Eden prize for environmental writing, and the Emily Dickinson prize from Poetry Society of America.  

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                                          Vincent van Gogh, Olive Trees (1889), Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Comments

[Cindy Hochman]

I love the way these words flow down the page, giving the reader the sense of youth despite what is being said at the beginning of the poem. I've been a fan of Lola Haskins since encountering her poems years ago and I love this one (especially since I just turned 67 and am heading toward my 70s). I love the way the light "forms lace on the pavement lovely enough to be sewn into dresses." (It reminds me of Emily Dickinson's tulle gown in "Because I Could Not Stop for Death.") Beautiful poem, lovely artwork, and thank you, Lola, for writing this, and Terence, for sharing it.

[Clarinda Harriss]

I’ve been there and felt this but never knew how to say it. Thank you. Both of you.

[Terence Winch]

Cindy: thanks for your comment.

[Elinor Nauen]

I couldn't love this poem more. I couldn't love any poem more. Thank you, thank you. It's exactly the poem I needed today (or any day).

[Terence Winch]

Thanks for the comment, Clarinda.

[David Lehman]

The poem is lovely, especially the series of "as" similes. And great Van Gogh!

[Jennifer O’R]

Beautiful

[Greg McBride]

At 79, I have found that the confusion of age persists despite each passing year—I’m often 35 while my son is 45. Thank you, Lola, for writing so beautifully about it. (Speaking of numbers, I should note that she has seven new poems in the current issue of Innisfree at www.innisfreepoetry.org.)

[JOANNA FUHRMAN]

Yes, a beautiful poem

[Gerald Fleming]

Am a big fan of linguistic complexity mirroring complex thought. And just the lovely weave our language is capable of, the winding there. What a lovely poem, resonant here.

[lally]

'for love of her' exquisite poem

[Eileen Reich]

Lovely poem and artwork.

[Robert McDowell]

Thanks for this beautiful poem, Terence & Lola. It makes me want to walk walk walk in a fine soft day.

[Terence Winch]

Robert---thanks for commenting.

[Don Berger]

Epiphanic is right Terence! I'm changed from reading this poem, and immediately I want to read it again, for its brilliance, music, clarity. It's as good as snything I've ever read by anybody, ever. How did you do it, Lola!? So glad to finally read a song of yours and I'm en route to finding more.

[Terence Winch]

Don---thanks, as always, for your comment.

[Troy Jollimore]

That's lovely! I love how it flows.

[Gay Haldeman]

I love this poem. The treatment of time, the happiness. Thanks.

[Christine]

This poem stays with me. Hasn’t left since I read it. Grateful to read it again here.

[Sean Sexton]

Yes Lola:
Lovely poem that catches me outside those hours of the morning into day’s end where the light is placed elsewhere, unpatterned, waiting to be swallowed by night in soft blue gulps. You are a true poet Lola, and one of my most favorite room mates and traveling companions. I hope I see you again soon!
Love,
Sean
PS we can fold the dresses into the Chiffionier until tomorrow’s fresh light.

[Pat]

I'm there on the leafy street. What a gift. Thank you, Lola.

[Susan Mickelberry]

“As strange as the years of our lives that go by without retuning.” A beautiful poem. Takes my bread away.
Susan Ward Mickelberry

[Nancy Naomi Carlson]

A beautiful poem from a beautiful poet, inside and out.

[Stuart Balcomb]

Just as your “clouds evanesce,” so do the years as you describe them, perfectly encapsulating the long road of life as a short one… or timeless. You express so effortlessly my very feelings as I walk among people of different ages, and how every age still resides within.

[Josie Emmons Turner]

As summer comes to an end, as leaves begin their annual fade into brilliant colors, I am reminded with your poem, how time indeed can be fresh, young. How spring is fleeting and a hair-breath away. Your words always inspire me.