Torgeir,
I definitely wasn’t thinking about Dante when I wrote that, but I’ve read so
much over the years, and presumably it is all back there some place and
accessible under hypnosis – or without my direct knowledge when writing a poem
-- but who knows? Not me. :)
Lawrence
From: Torgeir Fjeld [mailto:t.fjeld1@xxxxxxxxx] ;
Sent: Wednesday, March 27, 2019 11:05 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; Lawrence Helm <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [lit-ideas] On the road
Interesting and thoughtful. It makes us reflect on the sources of our poetic
tradition, such as
"MIDWAY upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost.
Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say
What was this forest savage, rough, and stern,
Which in the very thought renews the fear."
From https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/inferno/inferno-1/
Best
On Thu, 28 Mar 2019, 02:40 Lawrence Helm, <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
I’ve been on this road a
Seldom understood long time
And have never managed
To catch its name: The signs
Wink by so quickly. I must
Do my best to watch for
Directions: “Gas and Lodging”
From time to time or
“Rest Stop” which I
Pull in to and seeing no one
To complain, let my dogs
Out off-leash to run.
I look about but see no
Explanation of where this is.
My sense of direction, always
Poor seems to have gotten worse:
The sky in this unpeopled place with
Its immeasurable number of stars,
Each one with a name
I never learned, aches
As I cross over a crest
Away from the rest-stop’s lights.
The night is full of explanation,
But I am limited by the
Energy I still possess –
The dogs come near and wait
To see where I will go – on out
To infinity – or back to the car.
