Sunday, April 25, 2010

A Few Favorite Poems I Love & Read Often + My Existential Crisis

A sunrise near Venice, Louisiana by Hal Johnson, helicopter pilot.


Before the World Intruded
By Michele Rosenthal

Return me to those infant years,
before I woke from sleep,

when ideas were oceans crashing,
my dreams blank shores of sand.

Transport me fast to who I was
when breath was fresh as sight,

my new parts — unfragmented —
shielded faith from unkind light.

Draw for me a figure whole, so different
from who I am. Show me now

this picture: who I was
when I began.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

What Women Want
By Kim Addonizio
 
I want a red dress.
I want it flimsy and cheap,
I want it too tight, I want to wear it
until someone tears it off me.
I want it sleeveless and backless,
this dress, so no one has to guess
what's underneath. I want to walk down
the street past Thrifty's and the hardware store
with all those keys glittering in the window,
past Mr. and Mrs. Wong selling day-old
donuts in their café, past the Guerra brothers
slinging pigs from the truck and onto the dolly,
hoisting the slick snouts over their shoulders.
I want to walk like I'm the only
woman on earth and I can have my pick.
I want that red dress bad.
I want it to confirm
your worst fears about me,
to show you how little I care about you
or anything except what
I want. When I find it, I'll pull that garment
from its hanger like I'm choosing a body
to carry me into this world, through
the birth-cries and the love-cries too,
and I'll wear it like bones, like skin,
it'll be the goddamned
dress they bury me in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



God Says Yes To Me
Kaylin Haught

I asked God if it was okay to be melodramatic
and she said yes

I asked her if it was okay to be short
and she said it sure is

I asked her if I could wear nail polish
or not wear nail polish

and she said honey
she calls me that sometimes

she said you can do just exactly
what you want to

Thanks God I said
And is it even okay if I don't paragraph

my letters
Sweetcakes God said

who knows where she picked that up
what I'm telling you is

Yes Yes Yes

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I'm having an existential crisis which is defined as:  a stage of development at which an individual questions the very foundations of their life: whether their life has any meaning, purpose or value.

An existential crisis may result from:
  • The sense of being alone and isolated in the world;
  • A new-found grasp or appreciation of one's mortality;
  • Believing that one's life has no purpose or external meaning;
  • Awareness of one's freedom and the consequences of accepting or rejecting that freedom...
I will be researching my malady all day reclining in a lawn chair under a tree in my yard with a stack of books beside me.  :-)  I'll keep y'all posted on my progress or lack thereof...

Blessings, Bloggers,

~Marion, seeker

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else. ~Emily Dickinson

~~~~~~~~~~

My life has a superb cast but I can't figure out the plot. ~Ashleigh Brilliant

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be. ~Grandma Moses

~~~~~~~~~~

Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies. ~Erich Fromm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sun shines and warms and lights us and we have no curiosity to know why this is so; but we ask the reason of all evil, of pain, and hunger, and mosquitoes and silly people. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

~~~~~~~~~~

21 comments:

Grete said...

Marion -

What poems!
And what coincidence!
God Says Yes to Me is the poem I “live” this week and am about to blog about! I have already walked it today, and have asked my own questions....

As for Kim Addonizio, I took an online poetry course with her last summer - a fabulous experience.

Michele Rosenthal is new to me. “Show me now this picture: who I was when I began.” Wow.

And thanks for that - oh - so precise definition of the existential crisis. None of the points are unfamiliar to me.....The last one....it hurts.....

Looking forward to posts on progress. Hopefully none of the “lack thereof”....

Grete

Fireblossom said...

"God Says Yes To Me" is my new official favorite poem. I know zero about Kaylin Haught, but you can bet your existential crisis I'll be finding out about her.

(author's note: I HATE IT when someone says something better than I have said it, yet.)

Enjoy your booky contemplations, Marion. :-)

Kelly said...

I can't ever read that "red dress" poem without thinking of you, Marion.

I love that photo of Hal's. I just finished a mystery that took place in south Louisiana that I think you'd love. I'll review it soon since it's for one of my challenges.

Enjoy your afternoon! It's sunny, but WINDY here today. Ruins the fishing.

Marion said...

Grete, you're one of the few whose blogs I visit and do a double-take, thinking I'm visiting myself. YES! I can't wait to read what you have to say. You always enlighten me. Thanks for stopping by. Blessings!

Shay, you are the soul of wit. I swear, you have such a way with words it always blows my mind. Tee-Hee. I'm glad you enjoyed the poem. I've got all 3 of these memorized, I love them so much. Blessings!

Kelly, windy, YES! It's an awesome day here: coolish, windy, sunny and just plain totally stoned. Sorry about your fishing, though. Maybe tomorrow? Blessings!

quid said...

Marion... somewhat rainy here, no outside pursuits.

In reviewing your crisis, keep in mind that one of many of your purposes in life is to bring us the beauty of what you have discovered in poetry. Two of these are new to me, and of course, I savor the "Red Dress" and totally equate it with you as well.

I wish you a good book.

quid

GYPSYWOMAN said...

is there room for two under that tree? ;)

Karen said...

I want that red dress and that attitude!

When you find the answer, Marion, would ya fill me in?

Susan Anderson said...

I'm in the process of enjoying the Poetry Daily collection and had just read "What Women Want" yesterday!

Love the other two poems as well, both of which are new to me.

Glad I found your blog.

=)

Angela Catirina said...

I WILL have a RED dress! YES! I will. I will be turning 40 next month and I will have a red dress so sexy I may as well be naked. YES!

Well, maybe I'll indulge in it in July because that's when I expect to be past the awkward stage of turning 40. Body back in shape, hair back where it belongs, muscle tone no longer on vacation. But, I WILL have a sexy red dress when I'm 40!

Marion, I just want you to know that while you're contemplating life in your lawn chair under the tree, I just furnished my entire living room for only $64 with lawn furniture. We are kindred spirits indeed! :0)

Wine and Words said...

Oh, it's just me Marion, your BFF...Butt Fucking Foundations in question, same as yours. Big Female Fumblings, same as yours. Buy French Fries....somewhere down south???? Well, there's our answer :) Soon...

Before The World Intruded speaks volumes to me today, as I am there, within those words.

What Woman Want. I have loved that from the first time I read it...want that kind of loud gumption, but I live much quieter than that.

Love you dear one! Sending hugs.
~annie

Marion said...

Quid, thank you, that is so sweet. I read Tarot books. I'm getting back to my gypsy self. :-) I'm still tripping on shadows, just not falling down so often. Blessings!

Gypsy, I have lots of room. Come on by. Blessings!

Karen, there is no answer. It's all about the questions. :-) Blessings!

Sue, welcome and come on by any time. Blessings!

Angela, my sister-friend! Congrats on the great living room furniture find. I'm still using a wonderful sectional sofa with a queen size fold out bed that I got for $250 (along with a recliner) about 20 years ago!! Once when I worked for lawyers someone asked me what 'style' my house was decorated in....I said, "Is Early American Garage Sale a style?" Yes, you get that damned RED dress and strut your bad self in it. Post a picture at your blog. (Hell, you could knit the damn thing your own self with your talent!!) Dear God, I thought I was overweight and old at 40and now I look back and think, "Damn, I was HOT!" If only I'd realized it then...Thanks for stopping by and I'm glad you enjoyed the red dress poem. Blessings!

Marion said...

Annie, down girl, down! LOL! Just look at your photo of that dragonfly man on stilts from the Asparagus Festival. I'm in love with him and want to make itty bitty dragonfly babies with him. Tee-Hee. Love you too. BFF - BEST FRIENDS FOREVER!!! Blessings!

Jos said...

How bizarre! Just been to Gretes blog and now here. Coincident? Maybe, maybe not.

But "Before the World Intruded" speaks loud and clear to me. Not that I want to start over, but I would like to travel back to before, just to visit awhile.

Marion, we go through phases in life don't we? Are they really in need of being labelled crisis? Seems to me that extreme labels create a pressure on us ... a pressure to find absolute or complete solutions.

On the other hand, I do find asking the question "does my life have meaning or purpose" sends me into a never ending loop from which I've yet to find the escape hatch. Such is life.

Perhaps life itself is a malady. Who knows.

xx Jos

Marion said...

Jos, it's not bizarre, dearest, it's called synchronicity. After I'd posted my poem, Grete told me she was planning to blog about the very same one. That's the Universe telling us we're all on the same poetic wavelength! I'm not a label person. I never have been; I never will be. (Hell, I buy my clothes at Goodwill.) I just love the way the words "existential crisis" flow off my tongue. Just beautiful. I love saying it. :-)

I read the passage below many years ago, and love sharing this final conversation between Gertrude Stein and her lover, Alice B. Toklas:

"Dying of cancer, Gertrude Stein turned to her companion Alice B. Toklas and murmured, "What is the answer?" When Toklas did not reply, Stein simply nodded and continued: "In that case, what is the question?" ~from anecdotage.com

Isn't that awesome? I'm a Zen sort of person, trying to live in the moment. Of course, being Southern to the bone, I also firmly believe in what Faulkner said about the past: "The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past." So, I'm a walking, talking oxymoron. LMAO! I've had way too much Starbucks Espresso Roast today, for sure. Blessings!

Short Poems said...

What poems, amazing!
you have really great blog my friend :)

marinela x x

Marion said...

Marinela, thank you. It really makes my day when someone new stops in and comments. I appreciate your comment and now I'm going to visit you. Blessings!!

Phoenix said...

Beautiful poems... I especially like the "Yes" one. God sometimes calls me Honey as well... I've never had God call me Sweetcakes but then I don't think the God I talk to is a Southerner! (maybe that would help?) lol

I too am having an existential crisis...we'll see how long it takes to shake this one. Seems to have gotten a hold of my roots and isn't letting me go.

* said...

Just catching up on my blog reading (at last!) and rediscovering the giddy joy I feel at visiting here, your posted poems & quotes & thoughts.

And about that Existential crisis...I think I might have had some of that tap water you're drinking over there.

This last week has been more crazy than anything I've experienced for YeArS. Ahhhhh. That said, enjoy your stack of books. I have quite a few I plan on losing myself in, as well. ;)

Best to you, my blog friend, always,
Terresa

Woman in a Window said...

Ha! I'm wondering how real your existential crisis is and unfortunately, I'm late for getting the kids up and can't read on back here. Damn! Are you laughing? I will believe that you are laughing, because a crisis of this magnitude can be too much.

The first poem, I'm wondering if we in fact do start out whole? If we were to go back, is that where we would arrive. Or are we only in the beginning process there?

I'll take the red dress in the form of jeans! Ha!

I like your god~

Have a new and beautiful recline, Marion.

xo
erin

Unknown said...

Marion,
I clicked here because I truly love what you said in the comments to Terresa.

and um. love. your. blog.

and of course I realize now that I recognize "you" from Renee's sweet place, and others.

nice to meet you, and I'll be looking at your posts if that's okay.

thank you

Marion said...

Oh, no, Phoenix! Just remember my favorite advice: "This, too, shall pass." Blessings!

Deb, you are more than welcome at my blog. Thank YOU for stopping by and commenting. I appreciate you. Blessings!