So the Shortest Day came and the year died

December 21, 2023 5:29 AM

An interview with Susan Cooper about, among other things, her poem "The Shortest Day" [SLNPR]

Susan Cooper is no stranger to the blue, and last year we talked about the radio dramatization on the BBC of her famous novel The Dark Is Rising. Note that Susan Cooper is still with us at 88 years of age.

posted by cupcakeninja (11 comments total)

Thank you. This opening line has been etched in my brain since grade school; happy to learn more about the author.
posted by borborygmi at 6:47 AM on December 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

planning to head to a friend's Solstice Blaze this evening.. big fire on his property

this is the first year we're thinking of fire risk.. not even a thought in our heads in previous years, not much can happen with a bonfire surrounded by a foot of snow covering a field.. but we aren't having that kind of December and who knows if we ever will again in my lifetime? sobering
posted by elkevelvet at 7:57 AM on December 21, 2023 [3 favorites]

Not to dis Cooper's poem, it's an affirmation of light, hope and anticipation, and I hope it resonates with many.

But these latter days, Jennifer Chang's poem is what speaks to me this season.

THE WORLD BY JENNIFER CHANG

One winter I lived north, alone
and effortless, dreaming myself
into the past. Perhaps, I thought,
words could replenish privacy.
Outside, a red bicycle froze
into form, made the world falser
in its white austerity. So much
happens after harvest: the moon
performing novelty: slaughter,
snow. One hour the same
as the next, I held my hands
or held the snow. I was like sculpture,
forgetting or, perhaps, remembering
everything. Red wings in the snow,
red thoughts ablaze in the war
I was having with myself again.
Everything I hate about the world
I hate about myself, even now
writing as if this were a law
of nature. Say there were deer
fleet in the snow, walking out
the cold, and more gingkoes
bare in the beggar’s grove. Say
I was not the only one who saw
or heard the trees, their diffidence
greater than my noise. Perhaps
the future is a tiny flame
I’ll nick from a candle. First, I’m burning.
Then, numb. Why must every winter
grow colder, and more sure?
posted by BlueHorse at 8:41 AM on December 21, 2023 [5 favorites]

I met Susan Cooper many years ago at the National Book Festival. She seemed kind and gentle. Last night I started re-reading and re-listening to The Dark is Rising, as is my seasonal tradition.

Happy Solstice, all. May all beings everywhere be safe and free from suffering in the coming seasons.
posted by wicked_sassy at 8:51 AM on December 21, 2023 [9 favorites]

Shoot, I am a day late starting to listen to The Dark is Rising!
posted by wenestvedt at 9:08 AM on December 21, 2023 [3 favorites]

Tickled to see I'm not the only one who revisits The Dark Is Rising every winter holiday season. Fantasy wasn't big in my elementary friend circles back when I was a kid in the dark ages, so it's always felt like a little secret.
posted by smirkette at 12:23 PM on December 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

Recently borrowed an illustrated childrens book version of this poem from the library, I had never encountered it before despite loving the dark is rising books when I was young. It captures something about the season so well.
posted by Wretch729 at 4:29 PM on December 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

Thank you for posting this.

> And when the bombs came closer, the candle would shake.
posted by paduasoy at 5:21 PM on December 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

Shoot, I am a day late starting to listen to The Dark is Rising!

The solstice is Dec 22 this year, at least here in Songdo. Depending where you are it might not be too late!
posted by Literaryhero at 12:22 AM on December 22, 2023 [4 favorites]

Thank you for sharing this. I listen to and share a reading of this by the California Revels, followed by Thea Gilmore's "Sol Invictus", every year as a meditation on the coming year.

I own the book beautifully illustrated by Carson Ellis, too, but there's something about hearing it read aloud and reading it aloud myself.
posted by rhiannonstone at 3:36 PM on December 22, 2023 [1 favorite]

Funny, another poetic opening line of hers is etched into my brain:

On the day of the dead, when the year too dies

But that’s a different temporal landmark, there, Samhain rather than the solstice. I reread The Dark is Rising last year, when I was in need of a comfort read — my copies from childhood have dog ears and broken spines — and I was surprised by what I had remembered and what I had forgotten.
posted by eirias at 4:53 PM on December 22, 2023 [4 favorites]