The Shadow-gloom and Weight of the Sacred

To narrow my favorite poems to a list of five is pretty much impossible. Plus, I'm just going off the top of my head; not flipping through any old anthologies or anything to spark my memories of poems since forgotten. This list, more so than any other, is in a state of flux. Still, I thought it would be fun to make such a list just to see what I come up with, just to see the response.

5. Buffalo Bill's by e.e. Cummings--This was first poem by Cummings I read. It was during a high school creative writing class. I knew from the moment I read it that I wanted to write poetry and that I wanted to write it like e.e. Cummings. In this particular poem, I've always been struck by the diction and its appearance on the page, which can't be random, can it? The poem's format effects the way I read it. Another thing that stands out to me: the "Jesus" in the poem. It's so well-placed. As the narrator is awed by the wonder that is Buffalo Bill he can't help himself: Jesus. What an amazing little poem. It's the sounds, dictation, format that draw you in to ponder the content.

4. The Bridge by Hart Crane (this is a long poem and the entire text is not online; you can, however, read the poem's opening by clicking here)--Can poetry contain happiness or must it be despair? This was a big question in my undergraduate literature classes focusing on the American literature of the 20th century. The Bridge is considered one of the top 5 poems of the 20th century written in the English language and it is, arguably, a poem of joy and hope. But, as with all expressions of hope, it's also a poem of longing. While other prominent poems of the 20th century hold a sense hopelessness and despair (e.g., T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland, Allen Ginsberg's Howl), The Bridge is primarily of poem of optimism and marvel. Still, Hart Crane lived a traumatic life that ended with his suicide.

3. The pennycandystore beyond the El by Lawerence Ferlinghetti--It's hard to pick just one Ferlinghetti poem. His book A Coney Island of the Mind is one of the all-time best-selling books of poetry as well as one of my favorites. There are too many good poems there to note, but this particular poem has always been especially good in my mind. But, more than that, Ferlinghetti is one of my favorite poets and someone who has had great influence upon my own writing.

2. The Gypsy by Ted Hughes--Hughes is overshadowed in pop culture by his famous wife, Sylvia Plath, but the longtime poet laureate of Britain was a decidely superior poet (and I do like Plath, by the way). The text of this poem isn't available online, but you can find it in his poetry collection Birthday Letters, a book of poems which almost exclusively addresses his relationship with Plath. They say Miles Davis never wasted a note, well Ted Hughes never wasted a word. He is, I believe, the preeminent of the 20th century, if not all centuries, and The Gypsy is my favorite poem that he wrote. Incidentally, should you go the bookstore and read the poem, you'll find the source of my blog's title.

1. After Apple-picking by Robert Frost--This is another poem introduced to me in my high school creative writing class. I'd read Frost poems before this and, at the time, it didn't impress me more than his others. I like Frost, so it was nice to learn of this poem and read it and everything. But, I kept coming back to it. Throughout high school. Throughout college. And then, one day in my early adult life, I realized that every poem I've ever written was a blatant attempt to plagiarize this poem. It's the imagery that attracts me. I simply can't stop reading it--it's so beautiful, so articulate, precise, the image so clear. A truly magnificent piece from one of the great masters of the craft.