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Blog EntryJan 16, '11 2:05 AM
for everyone

A light snow, like frost, has fallen during the night.

Gloomily, the journalist confronts

-

Transparent man in a translated world,

In which he feeds on a new known,

-

In a season, a climate of morning, of elucidation,

A refreshment of cold air, cold breath,

-

A perception of cold breath, more revealing than

A perception of sleep, more powerful

-

Than a power of sleep, a clearness emerging

From cold, slightly irised, slightly bedazzled,

-

But a perfection emerging from a new known,

An understanding beyond journalism,

-

A way of pronouncing the word inside of one’s tongue

Under the wintry trees of the terrace.

 

Una ligera nevada, como escarcha, ha caído durante la noche.

Melancólico, el periodista confronta

-

Al hombre transparente en un mundo traducido,

Donde se alimenta de un conocimiento nuevo,

-

En una estación, un clima matutino, de elucidación,

Un refrigerio de aire frío, aliento frío,

-

Una percepción de aliento frío, más revelador que

Una percepción de sueño, más poderosa

-

Que el poder del sueño, una claridad emergiendo

Del frío, levemente irisada, levemente deslumbrada,

-

Pero una perfección emergiendo de un conocimiento nuevo,

Un entendimiento más allá del periodismo,

-

Un modo de pronunciar la palabra dentro de la lengua

Bajo los árboles invernales de la terraza.

-

Wallace Stevens

 

http://loqasto.wordpress.com/category/poemas/wallace-stevens/


16 CommentsChronological   Reverse   Threaded
rumrunner1 wrote on Jan 16, '11
Had I known how cold it was...
I would not have left...
But...here I be...clamp the collar tight...
Zip that zipper tree.
What beholds me is darkness...&...a breath of steam...
Lawd knows I've been worse...
But...I don't like this frickin' dream.
johnthebarman wrote on Jan 16, '11
Good Early Morning rumrunner. Your poem? I'd just read the Steven's poem in bed and thought, 'what a great poem to start the day' so wanted to share it with anyone out there in a cold morning.
rumrunner1 wrote on Jan 16, '11
Made it up...gratis...
johnthebarman wrote on Jan 16, '11
We got good value.
johnthebarman wrote on Jan 19, '11
Rumrunner, I think you may have missed the point of this brilliant poem, which is partly why it is so good. The frst verse seems like just a description of a cold day. In fact the whole poem is modestly understated.

But it is mystical and visionary, beyond the translated world. There is a "new known" and "a perfection emerging from a new known, an understanding beyond journalism".

I'm sure somewhere there will be a good crtique of this poem. I couldn't find it, but Stevens is good and this late poem is one of his best.
irsis wrote on Jan 19, '11
An understanding beyond journalism
Hi John, Someone wrote this to me and now I'm writing it to you;

You have made the right connection with the Good Energies of the Universe, and You Will live on in "Mind" always searching and connecting with others, to help them, to guide them to the new discovery of "Power". This power has been hidden from us for centuries, but the timing is right for the World to know.

johnthebarman wrote on Jan 22, '11
Thanks Sue. Good to hear you.
itsallinasong wrote on Jan 22, '11
" In the silent spaces
Between the thoughts you entertain
There is no room for reason
This is true love's domain ... "

*she silently sings*

:)
johnthebarman wrote on Jan 24, '11, edited on Jan 26, '11
What a lovely piece. Love's domain is where I'd like to be but it's both difficult to get to and so easily lost. We arrive back with a nasty crash.
itsallinasong wrote on Jan 24, '11, edited on Jan 24, '11
These are lyrics from a song that came to me some years ago.
Your post brought this to mind.

It goes on ...

" If you try to go there
The slightest effort that you make
Will only kick up the dust and hide forever
True love's domain ... "

Not so difficult to get to really ... one just has to realize ... they've always been there.
Not so easily lost really ... just sometimes obscured by too hasty a foot step ... eh ?

:)
johnthebarman wrote on Jan 26, '11
Very good. Tell me more.
itsallinasong wrote on Jan 26, '11
:)

What would you like to more ... of ?
johnthebarman wrote on Jan 31, '11
You gave it to me in your, 'Provocative Stranger ' poem. Thanks.
itsallinasong wrote on Jan 31, '11
:)
seedrum wrote on Feb 1, '11
he said: I’ll return to clearing my ditches and see where it leads. I’m goin to lay down my troubles, down by the river side, down by the river side.

me said: Haven't been around much as 2010 ended and this 2011 party got started.

In a room of literacy and accuracy and footnotes to authority of intellect. Tis true.

And all I bring is the mention of a dream unfolding in my mind, often transparent, but still... a contribution in a floating world where you

connect the dots and words of the poet and John and those who sit around him, listening.

And the wind blows. Journal and journalist . All part of a process based on story telling. Leaving much room for improvement. I start with passion, and others remind me of lust, and discipline and I throw off the chains of regularity. In and Out of consciousness....I am the missing piece not yet anchored to the bottom see/sea.

and so in gathering we hear each other, and the voice rings clear: The Great Ones can be found... in literature and mind.

Your reminder of Tao and Intuitive flow lets me know... it happens. why try too hard to cement it to The National Library, when John is around.

Poet and Passion. I see. be well. appreciate you.
johnthebarman wrote on Feb 3, '11
Thanks for such a thought provoking comment. It deserves a good response (and that will come) but I have also been away a few days. I took a trip to the next island for an endoscopy, a fibre optic camera, the diameter of a pencil through the nose (local anaesthetic) and a full colour detail journey down the throat and through the stomach. It was so beautiful. On the way back we looked at the vocal chords as I was speaking. The sphincters in and out of stomach were such beautiful strange creatures moving and pulsing and I felt and feel very peripheral to it all.

Like the death of an ocean wave these living processes break on a reef or shore and in a final extinction, ever more slowly, lingeringly embrace the rocks or sand.
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