Remembering Stanley Kunitz 1905-2006

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wandering glider
Senior Member

since 2001-04-04

Posts 501
aloft

0 posted 2006-05-15 06:01 PM

We should all live so long and write so well . . .
I had hoped to meet him a couple of years ago when I was near his home, but he was not well.
Obit here:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-051506kunitz_lat,0,11 52442.story?coll=la-story-footer

I hope many of you know of Stanley Kunitz's work.
If not, he is well worth a read.

Here is a sample of his work:

Hornworm: Autumn Lamentation

Since that first morning when I crawled
into the world, a naked grubby thing,
and found the world unkind,
my dearest faith has been that this
is but a trial: I shall be changed.
In my imaginings I have already spent
my brooding winter underground,
unfolded silky powdered wings, and climbed
into the air, free as a puff of cloud
to sail over the steaming fields,
alighting anywhere I pleased,
thrusting into deep tubular flowers.

It is not so: there may be nectar
in those cups, but not for me.
All day, all night, I carry on my back
embedded in my flesh, two rows
of little white cocoons,
so neatly stacked
they look like eggs in a crate.
And I am eaten half away.

If I can gather strength enough
I'll try to burrow under a stone
and spin myself a purse
in which to sleep away the cold;
though when the sun kisses the earth
again, I know I won't be there.
Instead, out of my chrysalis
will break, like robbers from a tomb,
a swarm of parasitic flies,
leaving my wasted husk behind.

Sir, you with the red snippers
in your hand, hovering over me,
casting your shadow, I greet you,
whether you come as an angel of death
or of mercy. But tell me,
before you choose to slice me in two:
Who can understand the ways
of the Great Worm in the Sky?

Stanley Kunitz

Midnitesun

Member Empyrean

since 2001-05-18

Posts 28647
Gaia

1 posted 2006-05-15 06:23 PM

thank you, so much
for gliding by today
and sharing this amazing human

quote:

Sir, you with the red snippers
in your hand, hovering over me,
casting your shadow, I greet you,
whether you come as an angel of death
or of mercy. But tell me,
before you choose to slice me in two:
Who can understand the ways
of the Great Worm in the Sky?

That was nothing short
of brilliant.

And I love this part of the news story!
"Stanley has managed to do what many of us fear is impossible," Howe once wrote. "He is a poet and he is sane."

wandering glider
Senior Member

since 2001-04-04

Posts 501
aloft

2 posted 2006-05-15 06:48 PM

I knew you would appreciate this, Kacy.

If only we could have spent a day with him in his garden . . .

Midnitesun

Member Empyrean

since 2001-05-18

Posts 28647
Gaia

3 posted 2006-05-15 06:53 PM

Well, I guess reading him will have to make do for both of us now. Thanks glider.
You made my day brighter just by sharing him.

doreen_peri

Unregistered

Member
Posts 180

4 posted 2006-05-15 10:40 PM

I heard a show on NPR today about him which included some recordings of his recitations and an interview with a friend of his who is also a poet and was with him when he died. I'm sorry I didn't hear enough of the show to catch her name. Thank you for sharing this tribute and the text to this poem, wandering glider!

Martie

Moderator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-09-21

Posts 28049
California

5 posted 2006-05-16 07:08 PM

I heard that he died from the paper today....amazing how much time he spent on just one poem...sometimes years and years. Thanks for this!

iliana
Member Patricius

since 2003-12-05

Posts 13434
USA

6 posted 2006-05-16 07:14 PM

Thanks for sharing this.

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