Sher’s Comments (group member since Nov 23, 2020)

Sher’s comments from the Nonfiction Reading - Only the Best group.

Carol-- I like the last line -- like a thunderbolt he falls. Having lived in eagle county in SE Alaska, I saw them every day, and I have seen some jagged descents, like a thunderbolt. :)

Thank you John. I will get a copy.

So far, and I have a long way to go, Derek Walcott's newest and last collection is the closest I have come to liking every poem.
White Egrets

But, as much as I don't care for the poetry of Louise Gluck, overall, several her poems still linger so clearly in my head as being magnificent. So, that is sort of weird.

I am really enjoying Gwendolyn Brooks, for the rhythm, and the Chicago setting. Some of her works are fantastic to read out loud.

I'm currently read The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks and I am going though the newest collections I have bought the past 6 months. Curious -- do you ever read a collection of poems and like very single one?

How often do you appreciate and enjoy every poem a poet produces?

I very much enjoyed Richardson's biography on Ralph Waldo Emerson-- a fine choice, and I think the Thoreau will be different from the dassow walls bio, which also is excellent.

Hello John-- I wanted to send you a great big thank you for introducing me to John Clare. I just received the book, and it is wonderful! I come to discover as author we like very much has written a fine biography about John Clare. John Clare: A Biography.

I am going to order this book; I am very interested in reading it.

I thought the comparison between the call to Liberty and then the responding blast was the most interesting aspect of the post, because it showed such a difference in tone and attitude. And, in the end it was the first tone of bravado and enthusiasm that won the day.

Hi John:
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the Emily Dickinson show. Interesting.

Hey John- now that is fun and clever poem. I really enjoyed the contrasts.

John-- at some point I would like to respond back to your comment about form. I am still trying to see how I feel about form. Sometimes form feels very off putting and constraining and other times perfection. So, are there other things equally important at work? Plus there are various manifestations of form...

p.s. I just bought a collection of 200 years of elegies written by poets across the spectrum- a form that really--interests me...

Larry wrote: "Sher wrote: "Lovely imagery by Anne Porter. I was struck by her choice of no end stops- no periods until the very end. Excellent. That choice really gave a sense of ongoing movement until "settled...."

Actually Larry- me too. How it looks on the page, and also the rhythm of the reading- the meter? is super important for me...

Thank you John! I will look into both of these books... great.

Hi there-- also can you recommend a poet- any era that has written a lot of nature poetry. I can only think of Mary Oliver -- I am looking for collections of nature poetry in one book by one poet. But come to think of it - a nature poetry anthology might work too.

John:
I wanted to tell you I finished Three Simple Lines: A Writer’s Pilgrimage into the Heart and Homeland of Haiku, and I really did not care for it. I also did not think you would like it. Why? It is an (I found rather unpleasant mix) of memoir and history of the classic Haiku poets, and contemporary (her own) Haiku. I realized there is a contemporary Haiku society in the US that dispels traditional form... syllables and classic theme of nature and season.

I've been really looking into what happened in the 20th C with poetry and I am learning lot about the how and why poets rebelled against classic forms. No judgement at this point about all this, but it is making me more sensitive to forms and lack of forms.

Lovely imagery by Anne Porter. I was struck by her choice of no end stops- no periods until the very end. Excellent. That choice really gave a sense of ongoing movement until "settled."

I'll look this poet up-new for me.

Hello:
I would like to bring to your attention a poetry event on Feb 18th--free- spored by Library of America-- Langston Hughes--
I will be attending, and will discuss the even here if anyone wants to join me. Registration required.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/poet-of-...

This is my 6th LOA Live Event-- all have been excellent.

John-- I'll be interested to know how Dunne goes for you. I have two other nature books I am reading right now and reviewing a manuscript for my husband, so I had to set poetry aside for a few days...

Larry wrote: "John, Carol, and Sher ... I don't think we should ever be hesitant to post more than one Poem of the Day! Please feel free to post other ones today ... and any day."

Larry-- thanks, but for me, I like one poem a day best, because it gives me time and space to digest and mull over the poem that has been posted... such as the tulip one you posted. But that is just my preference. We all have our views. I haven't posted lately, because nothing has come up recently that I really felt moved to share. I am sure there will be others though...

The tulip poem is moving on so many levels. Wow. I could write many responses, but of now I will go look up this poet.

I loved Miss Scarlett and the Duke!

Just finished All Creatures Great and Small last night! Wonderful too.

Sounds good John. I can tell it is part memoir, so we will see how I enjoy that...

John,
Did you begin and finish Three Simple Lines: A Writer’s Pilgrimage into the Heart and Homeland of Haiku I have just started it.