Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Moonlight and "A Tragedy"



..

A Tragedy:

I've been in a desperate mood lately. Maybe it's the holidays. Maybe it's the holidays and my wife's entire family descending on our house. O, who knows. But, honestly, i've been desperate. On-the-edge desperate.

And a desperate man resorts often, it is said, to desperate measures.

This afternoon I decided to read something off my old-bookshelf. So, after some perusing (and the rejecting of many great books) I, tragically, took down Robert Hass's "Sun Under Wood."

I bought this book for a class I took many years ago. The class's teacher was a big Robert Hass fan. A big fan of "the well-made poem." One night in that class i made a passionate but probably nonsense-filled rant about the poetry of "Sun Under Wood."

But, today, tragically, I took this book down off my old book shelf.

Upstairs, in my black recliner, I read pages 3 through 22 of "Sun Under Wood." Actually, I also read the title and first line of the poem on page 23-- "The rain loves the afternoon."

Pages 12-22 constitute "My Mother's Nipples."

The third section of "My Mother's Nipples" contains certain "songs" like

"The Romantic's song"
What could be more fair
than les nipples de ma mere?

and

"The utopian's song"
I will freely share
les nipples de ma mere."

Actually, this is not a Tragedy. Not a Tragedy as I see it. A tragedy is where a man is doomed and everyone knows it. But, also, in Tragedy, the man struggles and struggles and struggles.

I didn't struggle. I just leaned back in my black recliner and took it. Took it and took and took it. And pages 3 through 22 and the title and first line of the next poem is a lot to take, i swear.

And the "songs" i've quoted above might actually be the best parts of Pages 3-22 and the title and first line of the next poem of "Sun Under Wood."

And, as you can see, this is no Tragedy-----This is just damned pathetic.

But since i am so damned desperate i'd love for some smart poet and/or person out there to demonstrate to me, logically and poetically and humanely, that this is INDEED a tragedy..... Please !!!

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