Nice-thanks for the link.

Wow - he's really got a way with expression!



(I'm not telling which link I clicked on.)

I feel cheated because I expected references to M.C. Hammer and his song about prayer.

Nice poem.
I do like the Wootr write-ups.
You guys ever hear of nanowrimo?

Oh how we love thee, Hammer. I wonder if it is a clue from woot about some upcoming Hammer Pants on the wootoff.

Someone want to share how the last 2 stanzas of this poem are connected with the first 3 in any meaningful way? I appreciate people that can turn a word or a phrase but there still has to be some connection of words to words, thoughts to thoughts, or ideas to ideas. If not, I might as well write some whimsical, esoteric or poignant unrelated verses and have my screaming monkey randomly throw them together and call it a poem.

Maybe I'm just not seeing it after being woken up by 2 of 3 kids throughout the night last night. If so, enlighten me.

kcmark wrote:Someone want to share how the last 2 stanzas of this poem are connected with the first 3 in any meaningful way?

So this is how I read it, recognizing that poems can be interpreted in so many ways.

I picture a person (a man, given the picture that accompanies the poem), who is rebuilding a home that has been wrecked by some natural disaster. I'm from Kansas, so I go with tornados, but pick your disaster of choice. And, as happens sometimes in these situations, this person is wondering just where God is in the face of this disaster. He finds no consolation in reaching out to God, or in praying.

But then, just as he expresses this, peace comes to him, like dust settling when a wind dies. You can choose to think that the peace comes because he has given up on looking to God for answers. Or you can choose to think that this peace IS the answer. But regardless, somewhere in the back of his mind, there is now peace.

It's quite lovely, really. Thanks, Woot.

I don't get it.

I was expecting something from Peter Paul and Mary.

too deep for me...

but the video really takes me back... hehe...

makes my brain hurt.

I'm glad some of you guys find coherent thought in the poem...for me it was just another case of obscurity not equalling profoundity.

kcmark wrote:Someone want to share how the last 2 stanzas of this poem are connected with the first 3 in any meaningful way?

I agree with beckyeas. I think that is a good explanation/description of the poem.

Obviously, poems can require some interpretation and thought to find the author's meaning, and one's understanding may be different than another's, or the author's.

If I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning. I'd hammer in the evening. I'd hammer out danger. I'd hammer out a warning.



Well, I've got a hammer. It's the hammer of justice.

I choose neither.

unclejoeyv wrote:I choose neither.

And I, the opposite.

beckyeas wrote:So this is how I read it, recognizing that poems can be interpreted in so many ways.

I picture a person (a man, given the picture that accompanies the poem), who is rebuilding a home that has been wrecked by some natural disaster. I'm from Kansas, so I go with tornados, but pick your disaster of choice. And, as happens sometimes in these situations, this person is wondering just where God is in the face of this disaster. He finds no consolation in reaching out to God, or in praying.

But then, just as he expresses this, peace comes to him, like dust settling when a wind dies. You can choose to think that the peace comes because he has given up on looking to God for answers. Or you can choose to think that this peace IS the answer. But regardless, somewhere in the back of his mind, there is now peace.

It's quite lovely, really. Thanks, Woot.

The first thing that came to mind as I read the title was that Christ was a carpenter. I imagine the first three stanzas as His thoughts as he aids the poor. In the wind coming to rest, the dust settling, I think that's His death.

"Peace came to the hinterlands of OUR minds" (not his).

Somehow not at all uplifting. May be my mood tonight, but it really did not do much more than make me more tired than I already was.

beckyeas wrote:So this is how I read it, recognizing that poems can be interpreted in so many ways.
It's quite lovely, really. Thanks, Woot.

Wow! Outstanding! I completely misread each line, not noticing the connections/disconnections. I appreciate the help...

I originally *virulently* disliked the poem, but can appreiate it after your help.

Slydon wrote:No matter if you liked it or not, I'm very pleased that a whole bunch of people who don't usually post on the blog are now discussing a poem together. Maybe we'll try to do this more often now that we know you're out there!

I'm one of your lurkers who buys on occasion, but reads the posts pretty faithfully. So I'd love more poetry! What a fun respite in the middle of the Wootoff insanity!

Mr. Lydon, I must thank you for introducing me to Christian Wiman's work. After I read the poem and appreciated beckyeas and indeeme's takes on it, I followed the link in the article to another Wiman poem. I love the flow of the verse, and its circular continuity and searching wistfulness. I then had a lovely hour or so of internet distraction wherein I found this essay by Wiman, and this one.

I gotta say, Scott, this sublime distraction wasn't what I expected when I clicked the Woot blog link yesterday. I was expecting more funny, fluffy social satire. You tricked me into an intellectual pursuit. Devious...

This is my new favorite poem:
--
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

- William Carlos Williams

Listen to that MC Hammer song and take note of the "dun-dah-dun, dun dun dah-dun" in the background of the chorus. Doesn't that sound an awful lot like "When The Doves Cry" by Prince?

Forgive me if it's already been mentioned, I didn't read anything past the poetry critiquing jargon.