a poem that made me exclaim "oh shit" {poetry thursday}
one great thing about poetry thursday is that you can post whatever the heck you want about poetry on a thursday and still be "participating."
another great thing about poetry thursday is that it invites both poets and readers of poetry to celebrate poetry. so both can participate with ease and enjoy themselves.
today, i come here as a lover of poetry. as a reader of poetry. as reading poetry is what got me here to poetry world in the first place.
and i want to share with you a poem by sharon olds that caused me to exclaim "oh shit" when i finished reading it...i might have even exclaimed it as i read it.
it resonates in that "oh shit" kind of way. in an "i don't exactly want to admit that i know this feeling because i don't want my parents to read this and think i feel exactly like this but what kid from a household where the parents are divorced and know that their parents lives might have in some way been better had they not married and...does not feel this way?" kind of way.
this poem...well...it says it all in a few lines. all that might be said in 20 counseling sessions or one intense moment if someone was ill or what one might say in a heated moment that would be interpreted in all the wrong ways...it says all of it.
this poem is why i love poetry. this poem is why i believe we all must tell our stories over and over again. this poem is why i believe that we should never stop telling our stories even when people might not want to hear us.
i hope you will take the time to go and read I Go Back to May 1937 by Sharon Olds.
(happy poetry thursday...
love, liz)
PS Poetry Thursday was a weekly poetry project that I began and then co-ran with another blogger back in 2006-2007. I still like to celebrate poetry on Thursdays and hope you will do the same in your corner of the world.
poetry
Reader Comments (20)
Wow! Liz, thank you for posting the link to that poem! I've never read Sharon Olds, but I will now! Her words could almost be my own...my parents married way too young (mom-17, dad-21), were totally incompatible, and I came within the first year! Mom & I have often told people that we grew up together, although at times it felt like I was raising her!:) Lots of stories there I could write. Thanks again!
I left a comment, but must have clicked off before it published. Thanks for this. A wonderful and insightful poem.
http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2007/03/poetry-thursday-11-todays-totally.html" REL="nofollow">My PT is up.
Wow- very powerful. Although I can't relate to it in the parental context, it resonates in some part of me deep down.
Poetry is all about telling our stories...no matter what...
Thanks, Liz...
xoxo
Thanks Liz for introducing me to Sharon Olds. Othewers have mentioned her but your's is the first I've acted on and gone to read her.
Thank you? for making me face truths I prefer to turn away from all too often.
I, like my parents and theirs before them, traveled the twisted road of lust to troubled waters. However i have 3 spectacular children from this uneasy coupling that would have to be denied if I were to say I regret!!!!!
You my dear are amazing. ;-)
rel
I remember reading this poem in college...it really is amazing. My parents aren't even divorced, but there's something here about the looking back to a moment before everything else has happened that is so gripping. In the poem, it almost seems like the narrator has the power to change the course of life and chooses not to despite everything that might follow. Thanks for sharing, this was great to read again.
Sharon Olds rocks my world and I love that she was born the same year as my dad.
Oh shit!
My sister once told me she wished my parents had split up for good when she was young. (They had a brief break but ended up getting back together.) As terrible as their marriage was, and as much as I agreed with my sister on one level, on another I was so deeply hurt because her statement, of course, meant she wished I'd never been born.
This, I realize, is not exactly germane to the poem, but it somewhat relates, and it's one of the worst hurts my sister ever inflected on me. (I should mention she was in her mid-30s when she told me this, so it wasn't just the thoughtlessness of youth at work.)
Anyway, I know that feeling of wanting to exist, no matter what that existence might bring. Of course, it always helps if those around you also want you to exist.
Well alrighty then, that was an uplifting comment. See ya!
Reading Sharon Olds has always caused some kind of strong reaction from me, that's why I love her poetry.
This poem really is an "OH SHIT" - I can see it from the perspective of a daughter --- and even more "OH SHIT DOUBLE SHIT" from the perspective of a mother whose first marriage ended.
I believe my children feel free to express their struggle with the past - but I think I will take the time to reinforce that with them. Thanks for sharing this.
Fantastic poem, Liz. She is amazing.
Thanks for leading me to her! I will chk up more stuff from her...
Sharon Olds is simply uncompromising in her work--not so much in terms of craft, but in following through entirely with the premise of the poem, to find where it must end, and she doesn't flench from that.
Oh shit, yes.
Thanks, Liz--you are amazingly generous.
(I'm visiting Saddam right now but its me, Alexandra.) I completely remember that Sharon Olds poem very well. Its such a powerful one, isn't it? Are we on for Tuesday? Let me know. I've been enjoying your blog but too pooped to comment much!
thanks so much for sharing this! i am going to print it out and add it to my binder of favorite poems.
At last I have found your post! I was getting blank screens before! I love Sharon Old's poetry, I heard her read at the Scottish Poetry Library and she is an excellent reader too (not all poets are!). This is a great and sad poem.
hi liz,
i had never read this poem of hers before, and i'm so glad you brought it to me. it throws in another dynamic in the process of deciding/learning/searching for a way to think and feel about my own parents, their relationship, my relationship to them.
and i'm loving/holding on to what you said about what this poem makes you believe ~ 'that we should never stop telling our stories even when people might not want to hear us.'
i wanted to hear that...and once i did, i realize i needed to hear that. so i'm glad i heard it from you today!
i love these 'oh shit!' kind of poems because they jar me into a new way of being and seeing.
Wow! Wow wow wow! I have heard such good things of Sharon Olds and now I believe them all - very powerful. Thanks for sharing this!
This, by Sharon Olds reminds me of the classic koan...."What was your original face before your parents were born?"
this was one of sharon olds poems i was thinking of when i wrote you and dana that email about confessional poetry ... reading it makes my heart beat really fast and heavy in my chest, my throat -- every single time i read it. i think that physical response must be because i take the intent of the poem inside, it is so strong. thanks for reminding me of this poem - but even more, for your perspective on it, liz.
I only saw this now, but, oh man, what an amazing poem. It's so raw and it makes me feel a lot of conflicting things and I love your perspective on it.
'oh shit' is right.