I had never read Crane. I’m starting to understand how I can only read a great poem for the first time—once—and the experience is exquisite. In this moment, the poem has the power to reveal to me more about myself and the present state of my inner spirit than anything about the poem itself—the concepts and ideas— or anything about the poet themself and their lens on life. A great poem is a spacious place.
This work had, for me, the voice of a gentle, yearning, female energy—atmospheric in the way I love so dearly: a rainy day, exploring the attic of an old house, images of Cape Hatteras and the big bridge that goes out to the Outer Banks on the coast of North Carolina... walking around inside these words was both intimate and expansive for me.
I love your poem, Dick, for your Nana and for the river of time…grandmothers mother us in the perfect way—lightly—when we ask—and without saying a word. I miss my own grandma and even more, I miss the generations who came before her. How can we miss someone we’ve never met…? I have no answer for that but these poems help me validate the feeling.
Yeah it's a pretty special feeling the first time you read a poem that you'll never forget. 'My Grandmother's Love Letters' is definitely one of those poems for me. It stays with me always. I always love to hear about people's experiences with the places mentioned in the poems - obviously, for me being in NZ, I don't know them as places, only as poems. But with the ones I really love I'll often have a bog chat with Laurence about them if he knows about where they are set. It always enriches the experience. So yeah, it was lovely to hear about your own experiences in Cape Hatteras and in North Carolina.
Yeah, if you are lucky enough to get a good nana - it's a very special thing. I had spent a lot of time with my mum's mum and dad, and they were both wonderful. I used to spend a lot of school holidays with them when I was a kid, and they lived with us for a while when I was a teenager. I think it's definitely possible to miss those we haven't met. I think it's also somewhat of a product of Western models of ancestry. For instance, in Māori approaches to whakapapa (ancestry) you carry your ancestors with you, and there is customarily more connection fostered with generations from before your birth, through narratives, carvings, and so on. But yeah, I definitely think connections with ancestors you never knew is valid and real. 🖤 And very much worth exploring.
These lines go right to the core, don't they? He died so young. If only he had gotten to live in a more enlightened time and follow his heart . . . we're not there yet, by a long stretch, but there is more hope today. And I love knowing something of the poet's story after I read the poem. Thanks, Dick, for doing it this way--to let the words, the pure essence of the poem come first. Sometimes the academics race to dissect the "meaning" or agenda of poems until they're sliced to death and can no longer hold space for what wants to happen in the reader. You are so good to let the poems speak what they will.
Yeah absolutely - right to the core! Aw you are very welcome. I have always been disappointed by the way poetry history is presented, and books and essays on poetry in general, that have so few poems in them! And as you say, often the analysis takes the front seat, and the poems the backseat. Makes no sense at all to me. So I really wanted to make sure that I structured this differently, to privilege the poems, and it means a lot you would point that out 🖤
I love Crane - what a sad end to a brilliant poet.
"my mother's mother
still speaks
to me"
your response holds so much in so few words. my mother's mother was my best friend until the day she died on Christmas day 17 years ago, so your words resonate deeply with me.
Yeah, Crane was a gem. It was indeed a sad end, and a troubled life I think. Aw thanks - lotsa love to you - my nana died many years ago now as well. I had been very close with her since being a kid, so I definitely understand what you mean. 🖤
I've read a bit about Hart Crane and years ago read some of his poems. He never really connected with me, nor I to him. But I was attracted to his story.
Yeah, he has a pretty tragic story. I don't connect with a lot of his poems, but some of them are just magical. The one about his grandmother floors me every time, and I carry it close to my heart. 🖤
I had never read Crane. I’m starting to understand how I can only read a great poem for the first time—once—and the experience is exquisite. In this moment, the poem has the power to reveal to me more about myself and the present state of my inner spirit than anything about the poem itself—the concepts and ideas— or anything about the poet themself and their lens on life. A great poem is a spacious place.
This work had, for me, the voice of a gentle, yearning, female energy—atmospheric in the way I love so dearly: a rainy day, exploring the attic of an old house, images of Cape Hatteras and the big bridge that goes out to the Outer Banks on the coast of North Carolina... walking around inside these words was both intimate and expansive for me.
I love your poem, Dick, for your Nana and for the river of time…grandmothers mother us in the perfect way—lightly—when we ask—and without saying a word. I miss my own grandma and even more, I miss the generations who came before her. How can we miss someone we’ve never met…? I have no answer for that but these poems help me validate the feeling.
Yeah it's a pretty special feeling the first time you read a poem that you'll never forget. 'My Grandmother's Love Letters' is definitely one of those poems for me. It stays with me always. I always love to hear about people's experiences with the places mentioned in the poems - obviously, for me being in NZ, I don't know them as places, only as poems. But with the ones I really love I'll often have a bog chat with Laurence about them if he knows about where they are set. It always enriches the experience. So yeah, it was lovely to hear about your own experiences in Cape Hatteras and in North Carolina.
Yeah, if you are lucky enough to get a good nana - it's a very special thing. I had spent a lot of time with my mum's mum and dad, and they were both wonderful. I used to spend a lot of school holidays with them when I was a kid, and they lived with us for a while when I was a teenager. I think it's definitely possible to miss those we haven't met. I think it's also somewhat of a product of Western models of ancestry. For instance, in Māori approaches to whakapapa (ancestry) you carry your ancestors with you, and there is customarily more connection fostered with generations from before your birth, through narratives, carvings, and so on. But yeah, I definitely think connections with ancestors you never knew is valid and real. 🖤 And very much worth exploring.
No, never to let go
My hand
in yours,
Walt Whitman—
so—
These lines go right to the core, don't they? He died so young. If only he had gotten to live in a more enlightened time and follow his heart . . . we're not there yet, by a long stretch, but there is more hope today. And I love knowing something of the poet's story after I read the poem. Thanks, Dick, for doing it this way--to let the words, the pure essence of the poem come first. Sometimes the academics race to dissect the "meaning" or agenda of poems until they're sliced to death and can no longer hold space for what wants to happen in the reader. You are so good to let the poems speak what they will.
Yeah absolutely - right to the core! Aw you are very welcome. I have always been disappointed by the way poetry history is presented, and books and essays on poetry in general, that have so few poems in them! And as you say, often the analysis takes the front seat, and the poems the backseat. Makes no sense at all to me. So I really wanted to make sure that I structured this differently, to privilege the poems, and it means a lot you would point that out 🖤
Such a strong premise. It really serves the poetry and the readers.
🖤
I love Crane - what a sad end to a brilliant poet.
"my mother's mother
still speaks
to me"
your response holds so much in so few words. my mother's mother was my best friend until the day she died on Christmas day 17 years ago, so your words resonate deeply with me.
Yeah, Crane was a gem. It was indeed a sad end, and a troubled life I think. Aw thanks - lotsa love to you - my nana died many years ago now as well. I had been very close with her since being a kid, so I definitely understand what you mean. 🖤
Excellent piece! And boy do i love Crane. Superb read.
Cheers JP - yeah, Crane is pretty special! 🖤
My brother lives in Garrettsville. It's a very small town. A softness permeates his poems. Thanks for sharing this, Dick!
Oh wow, that’s cool - I always wonder about all the places the poets come from! Always a pleasure Rod x
It is the season of grandmothers it seems... I so feel these words. Beautiful poem, Dick. Thank you!
Aw yeah - it certainly is. Particularly for those around our age or older. Lot's of nana's and grandma's to remember 🖤
I've read a bit about Hart Crane and years ago read some of his poems. He never really connected with me, nor I to him. But I was attracted to his story.
Yeah, he has a pretty tragic story. I don't connect with a lot of his poems, but some of them are just magical. The one about his grandmother floors me every time, and I carry it close to my heart. 🖤
Crane was brilliant, Dick but I do love the Paul Nickerson poem!
Yeah he certainly was. Absolutely - I love that Nickerson poem too. 🖤