I have always loved the white grace of these gulls in a photo taken many years ago
on a boat tour of the Pictured Rocks that edge Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
It was part of a wonderful rip with our daughters and her two young sons.
Who would have thought that birds looking for a handout
from the tourists on the boat could demonstrate such grace?
Notes for Echo Lake 4
Who did he talk to
Did she trust what she saw
Who does the talking
Whose words formed awkward curves
Did the lion finally talk
Did the sleeping lion talk
Did you trust a north window
What made the dog bark
What causes a grey dog to bark
What does the juggler tell us
What does the juggler’s redness tell us
Is she standing in an image
Were they lost in the forest
Were they walking through a forest
Has anything been forgotten
Did you find it in the dark
Is that one of them new atomic-powered wristwatches
Was it called a talking song
Is that an oblong poem
Was poetry the object
Was there once a road here ending at a door
Thus from bridge to bridge we came along
Did the machine seem to talk
Did he read from an empty book
Did the book grow empty in the dark, grey felt hat blowing down the
street, arms pumping back and forth, legs slightly bowed
Are there fewer ears than songs
Did he trust a broken window
Did he wake beneath a tree in the recent snow
Whose words formed difficult curves
Have the exaggerations quieted down
The light is lovely on trees which are not large
My logic is all in the melting-pot
My logic is all in the melting-pot
My life now is very economical
I can say nothing of my feeling about space
Nothing could be clearer than what you see on this wall
Must we give each one a name
Is it true they all have names
Would it not have been simpler
Would it not have been simpler to begin
Were there ever such buildings
I must remember to mention the trees
I must remember to invent some trees
Who told you these things
Who taught you how to speak
Who taught you not to speak
Whose is the voice that empties
I can say nothing of my feeling about space
Nothing could be clearer than what you see on this wall
Must we give each one a name
Is it true they all have names
Would it not have been simpler
Would it not have been simpler to begin
Were there ever such buildings
I must remember to mention the trees
I must remember to invent some trees
Who told you these things
Who taught you how to speak
Who taught you not to speak
Whose is the voice that empties
Michael Palmer
Earth Took of Earth; 100 great poems of the English language,
edited by Jorie Graham, Ecco, 1996, pages 275-277.
I would like you to take a careful and prolonged look at the strategies of this poem. Read it over several times. Read it out loud. It is made of mostly questions without question marks, or other ending punctuation. Each line is separate, and everything on each line is separate from the other lines. (Except for the two-line section--which serves to emphasize the separateness of all the other lines.) The voice of the poem is interrogatory.
This is the last poem in the book, the other poets were born in 1928 or before--this was part of an early decision by Ms. Graham to limit it this way. She stretched the concept to include two final poets who were born in 1929 and 1930. Michael Palmer was born in 1943. His poem is placed at the end of the book under the word AFTERWORD. Why did the editor include it and label it that way?
Your poetry task for the next year or more would be to write a short poem
beginning with each of these lines.
NOTE: This is an anthology unlike any other, definitely worth your time. It begins with one poem before Chaucer and includes Chaucer, Wyatt, Shakespeare, Milton, Blake, other classics and many familiar and well-chosen moderns, one poem apiece. Included are a reasonable amount of women poets and a Navajo War Chant.
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