The Mysterious Book, Number 2

A Little Treasury of American Poetry, edited by Oscar Williams is the title of the book my grandmother gave me. It was my grandfather’s when he was little. Here are some of my favorite poems;

Glyph (from the Washoe-Paiute)

Truly Buzzards
Around my sky are circling!

For my soul festers,
And an odor of corruption
Betrays me to disaster.

Meanness, betrayal, and spite
Come flockwise,
To make me aware
Of sickness and death within me.
My sky is full of the dreaded sound
Of the wings of unsuccesses.

I really liked this poem because of how it seemed so… other-worldly. It was translated directly from the glyphs of the Washoe-Paiute.

I think whoever is reading this poem will really like it, it’s called “I saw Eternity”.

I Saw Eternity, by Louise Bogan

O beautiful forever!
O grandiose everlasting!
Now, now, now,
I break you into pieces,
I feed you to the ground.

O brilliant, O languishing
Cycle of weeping light!
The mice and birds will eat you,
And you will spoil their stomachs
As you have spoiled my mind.

Here, mice, rats,
Porcupines and toads,
Moles, shrews, squirrels,
Weasels, turtles, lizards-
Here’s bright everlasting!
Here’s a crumb of forever!
Here’s a crumb of forever!

I enjoyed that poem because of how it made me look at eternity in a completely different way.

I thought both of the poems really made me look at things a different way, and I’m looking forward to reading more poems as we travel.