Poems

This is example text in the body of this page. It may be replaced with poems, or links to poems, or commentary on poems. This is the "Poems" page after all. What did you expect?
Maybe read some poems here to start with?

Much of this page is currently placeholder until I find the time and energy to write more about whatever poems I am reading. For now, I leave you with the Humble Bee, by Emerson:

"Burly dozing humblebee! Where thou art is clime for me.
Let them sail for Porto Rique,
Far-off heats through seas to seek,
I will follow thee alone,
Thou animated torrid zone!
Zig-zag steerer, desert-cheerer,
Let me chase thy waving lines,
Keep me nearer, me thy hearer,
Singing over shrubs and vines.

Insect lover of the sun,
Joy of thy dominion!
Sailor of the atmosphere,
Swimmer through the waves of air,
Voyager of light and noon,
Epicurean of June,
Wait I prithee, till I come
Within ear-shot of thy hum,—
All without is martyrdom.

When the south wind, in May days,
With a net of shining haze,
Silvers the horizon wall,
And, with softness touching all,
Tints the human countenance
With a color of romance,
And, infusing subtle heats,
Turns the sod to violets,
Thou in sunny solitudes,
Rover of the underwoods,
The green silence dost displace,
With thy mellow breezy bass.

Hot midsummer's petted crone,
Sweet to me thy drowsy tune,
Telling of countless sunny hours,
Long days, and solid banks of flowers,
Of gulfs of sweetness without bound
In Indian wildernesses found,
Of Syrian peace, immortal leisure,
Firmest cheer and bird-like pleasure.

Aught unsavory or unclean,
Hath my insect never seen,
But violets and bilberry bells,
Maple sap and daffodels,
Grass with green flag half-mast high,
Succory to match the sky,
Columbine with horn of honey,
Scented fern, and agrimony,
Clover, catch fly, adders-tongue,
And brier-roses dwelt among;
All beside was unknown waste,
All was picture as he passed.

Wiser far than human seer,
Yellow-breeched philosopher!
Seeing only what is fair,
Sipping only what is sweet,
Thou dost mock at fate and care,
Leave the chaff and take the wheat,
When the fierce north-western blast
Cools sea and land so far and fast,
Thou already slumberest deep,—
Woe and want thou canst out-sleep,—
Want and woe which torture us,
Thy sleep makes ridiculous."

For now, there is not much on this page. I confess to having taken a break from reading poems recently. I am slowly working through a collection of Emerson poems and have made halting progress on my Frost collection, but such is the nature of attention.

Poems often provide an alternative form of literary consumption for me, an advantage for whenever my attention span is particularly limited. Of course, this very much depends on the type of poem, but that should really go without saying. For now, I have primarily limited my consumption to the short-form poetry that can be found in those delightful pocket-edition collections (such as those produced by the Everyman's Library).

With that said, I aspirationally return to some collections of more substantial weight, chipping away at their contents when my mind is willing. Walt Whitman's work is top of this list at the moment, though it may yet remain there for some time.

It may be apparent from the rather narrow selection of poets I have mentioned thus far, but I have made a somewhat concerted effort to expand my knowledge of American poets. Though there is no specific reason behind this effort, I have nonetheless settled in for this American diet.

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