A Poem for this Time

June 3, 2020 10:43 AM

Things. This is a time for poetry, this one is by Lisel Mueller.
posted by storybored (6 comments total)

Thanks for this. Monet Refuses the Operation is one of my favourite poems, but I haven't read much more of Mueller's work. This is a good reminder to seek it out.
posted by oulipian at 11:04 AM on June 3, 2020 [6 favorites]

I discovered Mueller's poetry only recently via her New York Times obituary. A great writer.
posted by ALeaflikeStructure at 11:12 AM on June 3, 2020 [1 favorite]

Here she reads Monet Refuses The Operation
posted by Oyéah at 11:25 AM on June 3, 2020 [2 favorites]

Those are both wonderful poems. And I agree it is a time for poetry.

From Mueller I really like The End of Science Fiction, which also fits this peculiar time.

And I also like James Wright's Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota and Thomas Carlyle's Today
posted by chavenet at 11:43 AM on June 3, 2020 [1 favorite]

Mueller wrote one of my favourite poems: Romantics
posted by Nossidge at 2:32 PM on June 3, 2020 [1 favorite]

Monet Refuses the Operation is one of my favorite poems.

I'm turning to WH Auden more and more these days. Especially September 1, 1939:
Defenceless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.
posted by basalganglia at 2:45 PM on June 3, 2020 [3 favorites]