Thanks for the consistent gift of these gems. And yes, we all need to be reminded to approach poetry with openness and to let it work it's magic on us. This was beautiful.
So grateful for this deep and thoughtful dive into Bert’s poems, which you so *get* — love how you describe their “disarming” nature and what you mean by that term. And so apt and beautiful, your evocation of a poem as an “unconstellated star”— yes.
Another great piece. The fact we can hear you reading the poem makes it easier to feel what you feel as i read what you feel about the poem And I would love to hear you read Mikko Harvey - For M if possible, that one is my favourite from you till date.
“To read a poem, in some ways, is to read the light of un-constellated stars.” Thank you for the light you shine on this trail we call poetry--helps us see what we might otherwise miss. Here’s to the softening of our crispation.
"As anyone who has tried to write a concrete and resonant image (or tried to teach someone else to write one) knows: it’s hard. What’s required? Devotion to both the five-sense fact of a thing and the dream it inspires…" - "When Knott writes, “It will look as though I am flying into myself,” it is doing the same kind of work as Meyers’s line: “It smiles; so, he’s still the same.” Both moments show the way a poem can function as almost dream-work, a surreal and suspended moment when the world is at once both the world and what it could be. "
Beautiful discovery, thanks for sharing. Inspires me, actually - as an essayist who struggles with brevity, it’s shown me something quite practical about great poetry that I find it hard to see sometimes, tho certainly feel. .... I’m not sure how I became subscribed to your newsletter (I’m in New Zealand and mostly follow local writers) but I’m glad of it! Thank you.
Apr 16, 2023·edited Apr 16, 2023Liked by Devin Kelly
I loved these poems, thank you for this introduction. Your essays are the perfect gentle start to my Sundays: helping me be present and thoughtful.
Thank you for also sharing your own poems - I especially like “Sunday at the Laundromat“. The second to last line reminded me of “Spring” by Irish poet Geraldine Mills. (I can’t find it online, I’d be happy to add it in comments here?)
Thanks for the consistent gift of these gems. And yes, we all need to be reminded to approach poetry with openness and to let it work it's magic on us. This was beautiful.
So grateful for this deep and thoughtful dive into Bert’s poems, which you so *get* — love how you describe their “disarming” nature and what you mean by that term. And so apt and beautiful, your evocation of a poem as an “unconstellated star”— yes.
Another great piece. The fact we can hear you reading the poem makes it easier to feel what you feel as i read what you feel about the poem And I would love to hear you read Mikko Harvey - For M if possible, that one is my favourite from you till date.
“To read a poem, in some ways, is to read the light of un-constellated stars.” Thank you for the light you shine on this trail we call poetry--helps us see what we might otherwise miss. Here’s to the softening of our crispation.
"As anyone who has tried to write a concrete and resonant image (or tried to teach someone else to write one) knows: it’s hard. What’s required? Devotion to both the five-sense fact of a thing and the dream it inspires…" - "When Knott writes, “It will look as though I am flying into myself,” it is doing the same kind of work as Meyers’s line: “It smiles; so, he’s still the same.” Both moments show the way a poem can function as almost dream-work, a surreal and suspended moment when the world is at once both the world and what it could be. "
Beautiful discovery, thanks for sharing. Inspires me, actually - as an essayist who struggles with brevity, it’s shown me something quite practical about great poetry that I find it hard to see sometimes, tho certainly feel. .... I’m not sure how I became subscribed to your newsletter (I’m in New Zealand and mostly follow local writers) but I’m glad of it! Thank you.
I loved these poems, thank you for this introduction. Your essays are the perfect gentle start to my Sundays: helping me be present and thoughtful.
Thank you for also sharing your own poems - I especially like “Sunday at the Laundromat“. The second to last line reminded me of “Spring” by Irish poet Geraldine Mills. (I can’t find it online, I’d be happy to add it in comments here?)
Lovely. Thank you.