almost a year since archy died

January 10, 2002 12:24 PM

almost a year since archy died. (more inside)
posted by clavdivs to MetaFilter-Related at 12:24 PM (12 comments total)

a.r. ammons was my favorite poet. I was re-reading 'Garbage' and suddenly, yesterday, found out he was dead. This happens, though it should not. my point, he had some things to say, a few lines really..."but it wiggles and guess what it says: have I/ cajoled you lately that I wantya: I'm none too/ interested in regions because there's plenty of/ spelled-out cultural differntiation in isolationisms,/
and, anyhow, it's passing: I'm interested in the/differentiations of which there are now few that the/whole globe can belong to..." from 'Garbage', 1993.
posted by clavdivs at 12:34 PM on January 10, 2002

Well, he was my favourite poet's favourite poet and what he wrote(and said, and was)sure sticks in the mind. Here's a quick reminder for those who can't place him.

I also hated that Wallace Stevens was already dead when I first started reading him, with no idea of how old he would be. These two guys read like it's been written a year from now, they're so modern.

But, still, you get sick of reading the same old poems, no matter how much you kid yourself, you keep wishing there was a fresh batch coming out in the Spring.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 12:51 PM on January 10, 2002

clavdivs, i just wanted you to know that i heart you.

wanna have my babies?
posted by sugarfish at 1:59 PM on January 10, 2002

clav, I'm surprised and somehow charmed that you read Ammons. I remember stumbling on Tape for The Turn of the Year long ago, and what it meant to me that you could just go like that, no turning back.

Fall fell: so that's it for the leaf poetry:
some flurries have whitened the edges of roads

and lawns: time for that, the snow stuff: &
turkeys and old St. Nick: where am I going to

find something to write about I haven't already
written away: I will have to stop short, look

down, look up, look close, think, think, think:
but in what range should I think: should I

figure colors and outlines, given forms, say
mailboxes, or should I try to plumb what is

behind what and what behind that, deep down
where the surface has lost its semblance: or

should I think personally, such as, this week
seems to have been crafted in hell: what: is

something going on: something besides this
diddledeediddle everyday matter-of-fact: I

could draw up an ancient memory which would
wipe this whole presence away: or I could fill

out my dreams with high syntheses turned into
concrete visionary forms: Lucre could lust

for Luster: bad angels could roar out of perdition
and kill the AIDS vaccine not quite

perfected yet: the gods could get down on
each other; the big gods could fly in from

nebulae unknown: but I'm only me: I have 4
interests--money, poetry, sex, death: I guess

I can jostle those. . . .

Death jostles back.

posted by rodii at 6:32 PM on January 10, 2002 [1 favorite]

Thanks rodii. That's another one for my list.
posted by gleuschk at 7:44 PM on January 10, 2002

I'm confused. How is this "Metafilter related"?
posted by Steven Den Beste at 9:29 PM on January 10, 2002

Thanks, guys. I've never read Ammons (I'd like to blame my English education, but should probably put it down to my insufficiently wide reading). It looks great, and I'm going to be able to enjoy all his work as new.
posted by liam at 9:36 PM on January 10, 2002

How is this "Metafilter related"?
..."Precarious absraction will/have to be the worlds feed for a long time/before the little bits, so few, of concretion/and worldwide specification begin to appear,/ but, tough scanty, growing and leading into a/growing world, not one spent: globe-round/one thinks, slapping down the lines, making time/with eternity,one will thrive beyond the brink but/beyond the brink is no recollection but a wide/giving way into silver that filters..."(hmmnnn) "...we may be alone in/words but we are not singular in language: have some respect for other speakers of being and for god's sake drop all this crap about words..."(Ibid)
posted by clavdivs at 10:08 PM on January 10, 2002

"could draw up an ancient memory which would
wipe this whole presence away: or I could fill

out my dreams with high syntheses turned into
concrete visionary forms"
the man was a genius, the whole(almost )sha-bang in a few sentences....amazing. SDB-no literary thoery,nay even a contrast. I believe the blog should capture certain aspects of the human condition. re-reading a poet whom one thought was alive, found out is dead affirms that poetry lives to a degree...Pound said in 'Salutation the Second'..."tell them you do know work and that you will live forever." cheeky but true.
posted by clavdivs at 10:16 PM on January 10, 2002

I was totally ignorant of A.R. Ammons up `till this thread.
Cool beans, clav.
posted by dong_resin at 8:17 PM on January 11, 2002

I'm confused. How is this "Metafilter related"?

Well, if some of us at MetaFilter relate to it, then it's MetaFilter-related.

Personally I think it sits - stands tall - here on MeTa better than on the FP where a fraudulent "Does anyone remember A.R. Ammons?" post could easily have been concocted.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 12:25 AM on January 12, 2002

I'm wrapped: new loot. Cheers, clav.
posted by walrus at 6:27 AM on January 12, 2002