The poetry of longing

Not a stellar photo today, but today was about poetry, not photography. I am attending the annual conference for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) this week in Washington, D.C. And this photo definitely represents one of the highlights of my day: a reading and discussion with poet Stephen Dunn.

His poems floor me, and the discussion was a delight. One of my favorite quotes: "There are people who think they are telling the truth when they say what they mean. But that has nothing to do with truth."

And so today, instead of one of my hastily dashed off haikus, I will give you one of his poems, a poem of longing, with an epigraph by Henry Miller, who was quite the obsession of mine for a while.

Beyond Hammonton
BY STEPHEN DUNN

Night is longing, longing, longing,
beyond all endurance.
--Henry Miller

The back roads I've traveled late
at night, alone, a little drunk,
wishing I were someone
on whom nothing is lost,

are the roads by day I take
to the car wash in Hammonton
or to Blue Anchor's
lawnmower repair shop
when the self-propel mechanism goes.

Fascinating how the lamplight
that's beckoned
from solitary windows
gives way to white shutters
and occasionally a woman
in her yard, bending over
something conspicuously in bloom.

So much then is duty, duty, duty,
and so much
with the sun visor tilted
and destination known
can be endured.

But at night . . . no, even at night
so much can be endured.

I've known only one man
who left the road,
followed an intriguing light
to its source.
He told me
that he knocked many times
before it became clear to him
he must break down the door.




And I post this with hug for my dear friend, who I think is very brave for breaking down the door.