The Tributarium

I thought  we had a thread honoring the passing of famous poets, but I don't see one outside of individual posts, which is a shame.  We definitely need one, as we lost another good one today.

Anyway, I'll leave this initial post without a tribute and start with the next comment.

My friend Leah Fritz, who has died aged 88, was an American writer known for her support of the civil rights, peace and feminist movements.

. . .

Her poetry often made skilful use of classical forms, but she also knew when and how to slip into free verse when required. Her writing was always frank and she tackled her themes head-on. She was also a sharp-eyed and forthright reviewer for several magazines. One of her poems was showcased in the Guardian’s Poem of the Week column in 2011 [ which I will post as the next comment ].

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/feb/17/leah-fritz-obituary

Going, Going...

At this tail-end that might unwind a longer tale
than I would care to tell, how vividly I see,
under the microscope's unfocused lens, the child
I was and, viewed through sharper eyes, I still may be,
wriggling on the slippery slide on which I'm caught,
none the wiser in this, than that, lost century.

Born with, though not quite silver, nonetheless a spoon
to overfeed my avid mouth - that I now find
myself your specimen is no catastrophe
perhaps, but I do feel a victim, and I mind
my length of life, assiduously extended
by right attitudes, has got me in this bind.

You find yourself impatient with my sentences
which start out one way, turn around and start again
most often in the middle; then, just when you think
there's no hope of an ending, suddenly do end –
but some place in the middle, yet again. A dash
will do, as in 'I must' – and dash I would, my friend,

if only... Slowly do I rise and slowly sit,
and those who face a working day each morning sigh
when offering their hard-won seats on buses to the
likes of me. Embarrassed, I'd rather stand, but try
as I might with smiles and all five feet of solid
inner pride, it's the outer me I can't deny.

As if I am an actor made to play the part,
and nature applied the putty and the grease-paint,
I walk out on the stage, an extra in the scene,
to no applause. Indeed, I feel I am a faint
shadow in the backdrop, something that the artist
tried unsuccessfully to hide, something too quaint

for the production that the playwright had in mind.
And so is this alexandrine, a rhythm slow
yet jogging quite irregularly, like the walk
of one unsure of how or where she's meant to go.
Wherever, however, it's not the way I'd choose.
Odds on, I bet my life that I will get there, though.

- Leah Fritz, Poem of the Week, The Guardian,  22 Aug, 2011

Image:  Hanging on ... an elderly bus passenger. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

Current in Obituaries:

Lisel Mueller, Pulitzer-winning poet who channeled history into verse, dies at 96

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/lisel-mueller-pulitzer-winning-poet-who-channeled-history-into-verse-dies-at-96/2020/02/23/67170736-564d-11ea-9000-f3cffee23036_story.html?outputType=amp

Robert Viscusi
( 1941 - 2020 )

PICTURE OF A MAN WITH A BROKEN HEART

In English we say Padua; in Italian, Padova.
In Italian, Basilica di Sant’Antonio; in English, Church of Saint Anthony.
Around the tomb of Saint Anthony in Padua stands an altar.
Around that altar people have left pictures of their parts.
“Saint Anthony healed my arm, and here is a silver arm.”
Hammered silver arms hang at all angles, thousands of them.
The cloister museum has hundreds of feet, eyeballs, knees.
Sant’Antonio di Padova, finder of lost things, also heals the sick.
Padova is the seat of an ancient school of medicine.
Many paintings record accidents miraculously survived.
Ex voto. Because of a vow. Each piece records a vow.
“In gratitude for healing my heart, I send this picture.”
Some paintings are of children restored to happiness.
There is a plaster cast of two hands.
People send their wedding rings.
Nothing is too small for Saint Anthony.
He will help you find your glasses, if they are what you need.
The picture is at the end of a corridor.
The man is painted looking straight ahead at the viewer.
Above him the heart, whole and aglow.
These rooms have skylights.
A row of silver hearts frames the painting.
In late afternoon silver is golden.
With his left hand, the man is pointing to the old heart.
It lies broken into huge humps of stone.
Artists call this gesture The Confession.
With his right hand the man points to the new heart.
Its red gold aureole distills the afternoon light.
Artists call this gesture The Vow.
Many of the paintings have Saint Anthony in them.
Others seem to be looking at him as if he were standing inside you.
“Thank you for healing me,” they say. “Thank you for finding my glasses.”

_________________________________

Robert Viscusi: “Visiting Italy for the first time in 1977, I found myself not merely an American with a passport but also an Italian with amnesia. Thoughts and feelings that had long accompanied my American life now seemed subtle messages from another place, now nameless, written in another tongue, now silent. This rich forgetfulness, these unsettling interruptions, became my subject.”

__________________________________

http://www.iitaly.org/magazine/focus/op-eds/article/robert-viscusi-1941-2020

For Leonard Cohen 21/09/34 - 7/11/16

The late great, Mr. Charles Bukowski...Last Night of the Earth Poem...awesome.

https://youtu.be/Oq6m-GVSiwc

Great additions.  That is what I was hoping for, poetry from those who've crossed over that still affects those on this side.  It's a powerful testament to poetry.

I am bereft.

Why is this posted here? Because she WAS Poetic Justice for millions of individuals.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Champion Of Gender Equality, Dies At 87

https://www.npr.org/2020/09/18/100306972/justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-champion-of-gender-equality-dies-at-87

Ahavati said:I am bereft.

Why is this posted here? Because she WAS Poetic Justice for millions of individuals.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Champion Of Gender Equality, Dies At 87

https://www.npr.org/2020/09/18/100306972/justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-champion-of-gender-equality-dies-at-87

I'm crushed too...
https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/poems/397213-rbg/

I think this actress would be perfect to play Ginsburg in any upcoming biopic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayim_Bialik

JohnnyBlaze said:I think this actress would be perfect to play Ginsburg in any upcoming biopic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayim_Bialik




I love Mayim!
She's ridiculously smart as well as a good actress.. I follow her on YouTube!
She's awesome
perfect RBG choice
👌🏻

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCTOocPnDh2YQZZwh86K2OxA

JohnnyBlaze said:I think this actress would be perfect to play Ginsburg in any upcoming biopic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayim_Bialik

 
Yup. Agree. I am sure at some point something will be released.