Favorite Poet or Poem

Yak · Subject: Re: Favorite Poet or Poem Thu Nov 27, 2008 6:33 pm

_________________
All the old cliches are true.
That's why they're cliches.

EJinVA · Subject: Re: Favorite Poet or Poem Tue Dec 09, 2008 8:18 am

Found this recently, thought it appropiate...

SMOKE DREAMS

Tobacco smoke! Blue-gray in wreaths,--
Blue laurel-wreaths which float in air,
As if, invisible, serene,
A dreaming angel hovered there,
A spirit of clam kindliness,--
A touch of eyes that smile through tears,--
A mantle of forgetfulness,
Thrown in the passions of the years.

I cross my knees, I puff my pipe,
The gentle Summer warmth creeps in;
The Summer warmth 'mid Winter's snows,--
For indolence shall banish sin,--
And watch the tasseled smoke-drops fall,
And note the fringed smoke-plumes rise,
And see the dreams, in legions, turn
To smoky nothings in the skies.

Tobacco smoke, like silken web,
Suspended in the restful airs,
To me and mine in soothing rhymes
A dainty, artless burden bears;
Let cares rage on-- let hopes renew--
The Yesterday, Tomorrow be--
But we are wise the smoke and I;
We cease regrets and troubles flee.
-A. B. Tucker

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"...So it shall be for all time. If discord has broken out between two beings, let them smoke together. United by this bond, they will live in peace and friendship thereafter."
-attributed to the Great Manitu, the Great Spirit

Irene Adler · Subject: Re: Favorite Poet or Poem Thu Dec 25, 2008 6:57 am

I'm a big fan of Emily Dickenson - she's so dark and twisty. I also really enjoy anything by Poe, and I love T.S. Elliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.

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"A pipe is the fountain of contemplation, the source of pleasure, the companion of the wise; and the man who smokes, thinks like a philosopher and acts like a Samaritan."
~Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

"In victory you deserve Champagne, in defeat, you need it."~Napoleon

"Why do I smoke a pipe? I shall tell you. Because I am a Pipe Smoker." ~Phil Webb

EJinVA · Subject: Re: Favorite Poet or Poem Mon May 11, 2009 8:17 am

Subdivisions
By: Rush

Sprawling on the fringes of the city
In geometric order
An insulated border
In between the bright lights
And the far unlit unknown
Growing up it all seems so one-sided
Opinions all provided
The future pre-decided
Detached and subdivided
In the mass production zone
Nowhere is the dreamer
Or the misfit so alone
Subdivisions —
In the high school halls
In the shopping malls
Conform or be cast out
Subdivisions —
In the basement bars
In the backs of cars
Be cool or be cast out
Any escape might help to smooth
The unattractive truth
But the suburbs have no charms to soothe
The restless dreams of youth
Drawn like moths we drift into the city
The timeless old attraction
Cruising for the action
Lit up like a firefly
Just to feel the living night
Some will sell their dreams for small desires
Or lose the race to rats
Get caught in ticking traps
And start to dream of somewhere
To relax their restless flight
Somewhere out of a memory
Of lighted streets on quiet nights…

_________________
"...So it shall be for all time. If discord has broken out between two beings, let them smoke together. United by this bond, they will live in peace and friendship thereafter."
-attributed to the Great Manitu, the Great Spirit

Winslow · Subject: Re: Favorite Poet or Poem Mon May 11, 2009 8:16 pm

Always liked Kiplings stuff.

Winslow sunny

_________________
My trust is in the mercy and wisdom of a kind Providence, who ordereth all things for our good.

Idlefellow · Subject: Re: Favorite Poet or Poem Tue May 12, 2009 7:42 am

ZuluCollector wrote:

Here is a poem I wrote a year or so ago about pipes and tobacco.

A fine poem; I like it very much!

A few of my favorites: Jane Kenyon, Wendell Berry, Jim Harrison, Kenneth Rexroth. And this, which wasn't written as a poem, but certainly could stand as one:

Now nearly all those I loved
and did not understand when I was young are dead,
but I still reach out to them.
Of course, now I am too old to be much of a fisherman,
and now of course I usually fish the big waters alone,
although some friends think I shouldn’t.
Like many fishermen in Western Montana
where the summer days are almost Arctic in length,
I often do not start fishing until the cool of the evening.
Then in the Arctic half-light of the canyon,
all existence fades
to a being with my soul and memories
and the sounds of the Big Blackfoot River
and a four count rhythm
and the hope that a fish will rise.

Eventually, all things merge into one,
and a river runs through it.
The river was cut by the world’s great floods
and runs over rocks from the basement of time.
On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops.
Under the rocks are the words,
and some of the words are theirs.
I am haunted by waters.

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There is no fun in doing nothing when you have nothing to do...Idleness, like kisses, to be sweet must be stolen. - Jerome k. Jerome

EJinVA · Subject: Re: Favorite Poet or Poem Fri May 15, 2009 8:15 am

Idlefellow,
Great poem & the movie ain't bad either.

_________________
"...So it shall be for all time. If discord has broken out between two beings, let them smoke together. United by this bond, they will live in peace and friendship thereafter."
-attributed to the Great Manitu, the Great Spirit

babysinister · Subject: Re: Favorite Poet or Poem Wed May 27, 2009 12:29 pm

My favorite lyric poets, among the ones that I read more often, are John Keats (Nightingale, To Autumn, La Belle Dame, etc.) and William Butler Yeats (The Song of Wandering Aengus, Byzantium, Lake Isle of Innisfree, The Second Coming, etc.). I've memorized many poems by both these bards. As a lyric poet, in my opinion, Shakespeare ranks third, although he is peerless as a dramatic/tragic poet. But I think he was not quite to the manner born when it came to the format and meter of the English sonnet of his time. I've also memorized a lot of his stuff - from his plays. One sonnet of his that I do love, however, is "When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes..." I must confess that I have a guilty liking for many poems by "the jingle-jangle man" - Poe, and for his prose too. Among poets born in the 20th century, I like Dylan Thomas, Patrick Kavanagh, and Leonard Cohen. Yeats, Kavanagh and Cohen, curiously enough among poets, just seemed to get better with time.

_________________
"I've always been suspicious of collective truths."
~Eugene Ionesco