LOL! Thank you, Krista, for sending me this (respectful) Quarantine Time take-off on my unfavorite poem, "Wild Geese",--by a fan of Mary Oliver, @radicalemprints, who says this is "a quarantine version of #maryoliver’s gorgeous & ever-timely #wildgeese: a little love letter for folks trying to work in a global crisis."
It's respectful, yes, but still pokes fun at a line I roll my eyes at:
"let the soft animal of your body love what it loves".
This writer's imagination goes where mine does, to "doritos and ice cream".
It's respectful, yes, but still pokes fun at a line I roll my eyes at:
"let the soft animal of your body love what it loves".
This writer's imagination goes where mine does, to "doritos and ice cream".
<3
ReplyDeleteWhen I see “soft animal” I think “plush toy.” Has someone said that already?
ReplyDeleteI've always liked that "soft animal" line. It closes the gap between our physical being and our intellectual one, by reminding us to let our mind ALLOW our body to feel. To drop those defenses. I get that!
ReplyDeleteKRISTA: Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteMICHAEL: Plushies, yes! I had said that too when I first posted about the poem.
STEVE: Oh, I know I shouldn't pick on this poem so--I will stop now!
It means a lot to many of my friends too, who feel exactly what you do:
that the poem reminds them "to let our mind ALLOW our body to feel."
Let the reader love what they love!
Ah, now I see it. I’d forgotten. I think to a lot of people “soft animal” is going to suggest “plush toy.”
ReplyDeleteI’m reminded of my one and only visit to a poetry-writing group in Boston — one person had written a poem that began “You are a refreshment to me.” I had the unguarded honesty to wonder about the word “refreshment,” which (I said) made me think of Coke, 7-Up, and led me to expect something of Frank O’Hara’s exuberance. My comment was not well received. But a good poet thinks about the overtones and associations that words carry with them (whatever “the poet” might mean). “Soft animal” doesn’t cut it. (And what animals are “soft” anyway?)
MICHAEL: You remember I posted "Sharing a Coke with You" recently.
ReplyDeleteWorkshopping writing where you're not supposed to say anything but positive ("I like what you've done with and" and "the"!)---not sure the point of it aside from mutual emotional support--which is NICE...! but probably won't make you a better writer.
I also think "soft animal" is a stumbling block here.
I googled the term, and pictures of plushies come up.
I think Mary Oliver means something like "tender"? Unguarded? Inner child?
Probably not slugs... though slugs are soft animals.
(I would never mock the importance of getting in touch with our tender selves--this has been important to me too.)
I guess the thing is, the poet here counts on her readers knowing what she means, which works for a select audience.
But if you want to write well, you want your writing to work for people who don't already know what you mean, right?
This poem doesn't pass that test.
I like the idea of re-writing poems...maybe that would be a fun thing to do while under quarantine.
ReplyDelete