Wonderful rejoinder, Lawrence! Geary once liked something I wrote!
I have followed your poems and found much that makes me turn and stare out the
window.
Ursula,
wishing you well....
On Jun 27, 2015, at 11:51 PM, Lawrence Helm <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
I hesitated before posting this one which is clearly an "occasional" poem
about which Auden speaks disparagingly. Poetry in his view should be
universal, or at least much larger than 'occasional.' But then I realized
that I didn't care. I am certainly not a "professional poet." I write
poetry. I even have to write poetry. But perhaps I don't need to compare
myself to a "professional." Perhaps I have a neurosis. Auden was very fond
of neuroses.
Also, living with and taking care of a wife who is dying has got to be
universal in some sense of the word. No doubt Auden would agree but would
probably add that there is nothing beyond what I wrote, no implication, no
drawing the reader upward or some such castigation. I don't care, I would
tell him. Geary liked it.
Lawrence
On 6/27/2015 7:29 PM, Mike Geary wrote:
Thank you, Lawrence, for sharing.
On 6/26/15, Lawrence Helm <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
She was hard to understand.
Ben had pulled my blanket
Away. I got up and saw
Her eyes were open.
I thought she wanted
Water so I got her some
But she kept on
Asking then I heard
There was water
On her chest. I looked
And saw the blood,
Her old wounds bleeding.
I bandaged them but
Her blood seeped through.
I bandaged the bandages
And put an old shirt
Over them all. Puzzled, she
Looked at the blood on her
Hands. “Try not to scratch
Yourself again.” She nodded
And I covered her up once more.
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