P.S. by Franz Wright (9/12/2013)

[Jenny]

P.S.


I close my eyes and see
a seagull in the desert,
high, against unbearably blue sky.

There is hope in the past.

I’m writing to you
all the time, I am writing

with both hands,
day and night.


Franz Wright

[Dhanaraj]

One of my favourite poems of Franz Wright. For time being I reserve my comments on the poem. And I know that it is from the poetry collection Walking to Martha's Vineyard.

[Leslie]

I like it but I don't understand it. I sense some yearning but for a person in his past? past times (as in "days gone by"). Will think some more about it and return...

[Dhanaraj]

@ Leslie: A clue - Just go through Franz Wright's biography.

[LauraT]

A poet whom I don't know - not strange!!!!

[Helen]

I like this too - need to read and think about it some more though

[Alannah]

I really like this one.

[Sigourney]

Wow, I love this. Thanks for posting it Jenny!

[Leslie]

Dhanaraj wrote: "One of my favourite poems of Franz Wright. For time being I reserve my comments on the poem. And I know that it is from the poetry collection Walking to Martha's Vineyard."

Ha ha! Clearly Wright & I are on different wavelengths! Because Martha's Vineyard is an island -- how can you walk to it?

[Dhanaraj]

@ Leslie: How can you walk to Martha's vineyard, an island? Franz Wright gives an answer in the titular poem of this collection and that is also a lovely poem.
Even then, you and Wright could very well be on different wavelengths. Lol...

[[deleted user]]

I agree, I like this poem but I don't understand it. I feel like I'm missing something, maybe in the back story. It's beautifully written though

[Dhanaraj]

I know that a poem should be read as it stands and should be left to the reader's imagination. But adding a biographical details can at times help in cherishing deeply the same poem.

If you think this is a spoiler, you can always avoid it.
(view spoiler)[A Biographical detail: Franz Wright believed that he had two lives - the one before and after his conversion to Catholicism. He did not like his past. He was searching for the acceptable self in the present. (hide spoiler)]

[Jenny]

To be honest, I loved this poem before it made sense to me, and in all honesty I have no idea whether my reading of it is what has been intendend. The strongest image for me, and the one that somehow makes the rest of the poem resonate for me is the man writing with both hands. To me it's a poem about dedication. Writing with both hands brought two images to my mind. One of which was a man writing on a chalkboard with both hands simultaniously, the other one was a man praying. As in: addressing someone, with both hands. I know only a little of Franz Wright, I know he didn't have the happiest of childhoods, and he's struggled with addiction badly in the past. He didn't have the easiest relationship to his dead father who was also a poet, but whom he apparently loved and admired a lot. In my reading of it he adresses a Father when he says you. Be it his Father or God. I think 5 out of 7 times I imagine him writing for his Father the poet. And I imagine that finding hope in the past is an active decision to change the way you look back at things, to find peace.

[Jenny]

Cross posting ;) And I didn't even 'spoiler' mine. Oops.

[Dhanaraj]

To me, it looks an act of praying. The images help a lot: A 'sea-gull in the desert' means a hope to pass over the sandy land to vastness of sea. It can fly over and the author is doing the same now - using his both 'wings' he hopes to fly over his past. He prays to be forgiven of his past continuously, for the desert (the terrible past) is relatively big. I am a believer and so my reading could have been prejudiced. But, what I admire in Wright is that he could present a lovely image of a repentent person's prayer in few sentences.

[Leslie]

Jenny wrote: "To be honest, I loved this poem before it made sense to me, and in all honesty I have no idea whether my reading of it is what has been intendend. The strongest image for me, and the one that someh..."

I like the idea that "…I am writing / with both hands,…" could be praying or reaching out to someone. Thanks Dhanaraj & Jenny for the background info!