Wow! I had a rough night dealing with my 16 year old daughter's anxieties and this poem really puts things in perspective. These first two comments say it all. Powerful work by Larry Levis and your essays continue to be inspirational ❤️🤩!
Thanks for this. I am in awe of how Levis shifts so seamlessly from the everyday to the profound - like the movement here:
I love
The way she weaves from one side of this driveway to the other.
I love her simple determination to continue. And I keep watching her
Weave this way slowly & then that way until I think I might even be able
To save my own son from this final disorder of loss.
Just last month I was trying to describe his poetry and said that something magical happens in his work. I stopped there because it is so challenging to convey that sensation you describe here so well as palpable, the sensation of being moved. I agree: "there is something about a Larry Levis poem that is as sweeping and grand as it is particular and intimate." Selecting lines and excerpts of a Levis poem is challenging, too, because his the depth of his lines depend so much on context but I do like the lines you chose - especially
I know this isn’t much.
But I wanted to explain this life to you, even if
I had to become, over the years, someone else to do it.
Wow. What an amazing poem by Larry Levis. I’m always blown away by his work. The ending, as you said, was so good and it is so wonderful in the midst of the impermanence of life to think of one’s life as an accumulation. An accumulation of moments, and to feel joy and be thankful for those moments, or even one specific moment. Excellent writing today. And thank you for remembering Garth Hudson and his work largely behind the scenes. They all worked together so well to create magic and that work is evident in everything The Band did!
... It is the grace of believing in mystery, and believing, too, in the capability of those you have once lost coming to sit down, invisible and yet present, to listen to your music ..."
Thank you so much for the introduction to Larry Levis' work and your thoughts. Having lived in the San Joaquin Valley as a child, I can feel this poem on more than one level now that I am an old woman with white hair, although not as fragile as Larry Levis' mother and a mother of no one.
Garth Hudson. What a joy to see him play! In the April of 1969, my boyfriend took us to see The Band at Winterland in San Francisco. We were 19 years old. That was their first concert separate from Bob Dylan. In January 1974, I heard The Band play at Boston Garden, along with Bob Dylan who had not been on tour for the eight years previous to that.
Grateful to have found your Substack via a blog friend in Germany. Your archives from these last 4-1/2 years are a treasure trove. You've renewed my love of poetry, bringing familiar and new poets to my attention every Sunday. Congratulations on nearing the 5,000 subscribers milestone!
Wow! I had a rough night dealing with my 16 year old daughter's anxieties and this poem really puts things in perspective. These first two comments say it all. Powerful work by Larry Levis and your essays continue to be inspirational ❤️🤩!
thank you so much for reading and reaching out!
Thanks for this. I am in awe of how Levis shifts so seamlessly from the everyday to the profound - like the movement here:
I love
The way she weaves from one side of this driveway to the other.
I love her simple determination to continue. And I keep watching her
Weave this way slowly & then that way until I think I might even be able
To save my own son from this final disorder of loss.
Just last month I was trying to describe his poetry and said that something magical happens in his work. I stopped there because it is so challenging to convey that sensation you describe here so well as palpable, the sensation of being moved. I agree: "there is something about a Larry Levis poem that is as sweeping and grand as it is particular and intimate." Selecting lines and excerpts of a Levis poem is challenging, too, because his the depth of his lines depend so much on context but I do like the lines you chose - especially
I know this isn’t much.
But I wanted to explain this life to you, even if
I had to become, over the years, someone else to do it.
thank you for this! "from the everyday to the profound" -- that is the shift he makes, time and time again. appreciate you reading and reaching out
Wow. What an amazing poem by Larry Levis. I’m always blown away by his work. The ending, as you said, was so good and it is so wonderful in the midst of the impermanence of life to think of one’s life as an accumulation. An accumulation of moments, and to feel joy and be thankful for those moments, or even one specific moment. Excellent writing today. And thank you for remembering Garth Hudson and his work largely behind the scenes. They all worked together so well to create magic and that work is evident in everything The Band did!
thank you always, John!
Beautiful, my first introduction to Lewis' work. Thank you!
Beautiful (as always) reflection on this new Levis poem, Devin! I was so glad to see your thoughts on it.
... It is the grace of believing in mystery, and believing, too, in the capability of those you have once lost coming to sit down, invisible and yet present, to listen to your music ..."
Thank you so much for the introduction to Larry Levis' work and your thoughts. Having lived in the San Joaquin Valley as a child, I can feel this poem on more than one level now that I am an old woman with white hair, although not as fragile as Larry Levis' mother and a mother of no one.
Garth Hudson. What a joy to see him play! In the April of 1969, my boyfriend took us to see The Band at Winterland in San Francisco. We were 19 years old. That was their first concert separate from Bob Dylan. In January 1974, I heard The Band play at Boston Garden, along with Bob Dylan who had not been on tour for the eight years previous to that.
Grateful to have found your Substack via a blog friend in Germany. Your archives from these last 4-1/2 years are a treasure trove. You've renewed my love of poetry, bringing familiar and new poets to my attention every Sunday. Congratulations on nearing the 5,000 subscribers milestone!