~Julia Hartwig
Happy Poetry Friday! Does it feel like this summer is going by quickly to you? Here is a poem by Polish poet Julia Hartwig (1921-2017) that perfectly encapsulates the rush of time:
Tell Me Why This Hurry
by Julia Hartwig
translated by John Carpenter and Bogdana Carpenter
The lindens are blossoming the lindens have lost their blossoms
and this flowery procession moves without any restraint
Where are you hurrying lilies of the valley jasmines
petunias lilacs irises roses and peonies
Mondays and Tuesdays Wednesdays and Fridays
nasturtiums and gladioli zinnias and lobelias
yarrow dill goldenrod and grasses
flowery Mays and Junes and Julys and Augusts
lakes of flowers seas of flowers meadows...
read the rest here
Izabela Barry interviewing Julia Hartwig:
And can poetry – I ask naively – save the world?
This is not a naive question. Miłosz talked about it in [his 1945 volume] Ocalenie. I, too, have tried to ask myself what poetry is worth if it cannot save anything. But … we don’t know whether or not it can. Joseph Brodsky believed that it could. He was so convinced that I could only admire his faith. After all, he saw, perhaps even more deeply than others, what was happening and what the modern world is like. He was not a naive man, he closely watched the present day, yet he believed that poetry had a great task ahead of it. He even said such things that if a nation does not read poetry, it is in danger of totalitarianism. These are very harsh words, and vague of course, but you’d have to dig into what it really means. And it means that if humanistic values cease to be important to us, the future of the world is fragile.
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Reflections on the Teche has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Margaret!
15 comments:
I'm leaning in to this statement: "if humanistic values cease to be important to us, the future of the world is fragile." We need poetry and you are doing your part. Love seeing your IG posts. They brighten my day! Thanks.
Weighty thoughts. Whether or not poetry can save the world, let us at least try.
A lot of painful truth in that interview excerpt. And I love seeing the progression of flowers as a calendar of sorts. Thanks for this, Tabatha.
And it seems that I just shared about our lindens only a minute ago! What a poignant way to show time flying. That final line about our values, oof! We must keep remembering that so much of the arts should be guiding us. Thanks for the thoughts, Tabatha!
Yes it really does seem like summer is rushing by. I love this poem— thank you for sharing it. The poet is new to me, so yay! Books to look for at the library.
Tabatha, thank you for sharing the poem and part of the interview with us today.
The poem's form is like a hurry-scurry of thoughts and time passing, perfect for the title "Tell Me Why This Hurry." And this made me gasp a little: "if a nation does not read poetry, it is in danger of totalitarianism" Oh, it makes me want to read and share more poetry today and every day.
It does seem like everything is going by so fast, Tabatha. I'll be on vacation this week and look forward to yaking things a little slower.
The truth of the poem and the quote are too real...just too real. Thank you for sharing them. I'm trying to be more present in my moments...to slow down and even lose track of time. It's not easy in today's world.
Appreciations for sharing and introducing me to Polish poet Julia Hartwig who feels so kindred to me, and for the links about her—lots to ponder on, and I look forward to pondering more with her poetry.
"if a nation does not read poetry, it is in danger of totalitarianism," and as flowers and blossoms and Junes and Julys fly past, how can we put poetry in the path of hurry, slow it all down? I propose more public poetry installations, actual plinths and cairns and walls and doors covered with poetry, so that no one can miss it, so that you run into a reason to pause wherever you go. Thanks, Tabatha.
Such truth. The future of our world is indeed fragile, and we need all the poetry we can muster to shore her up.
(Also, gotta love a poet who measures time in waves of bloom!! I'm with her!!)
Thank you for both of these excerpts. I do love the rush of summer blooms in the poem.
Your post invites us to slow down, Tabatha ("Tell Me Why This Hurry"), which I love! It also challenges us to this about the impact of poetry in the world... thank you for this!
...on the other hand, I walked with the wildflowers this morning and they were not in a hurry to go to seed, thank goodness! they downright waved, delighted at my gaze.
Thank you for this, Tabatha. Big breath in and slow, long breath out. I love the reminder (that we time-driven humans need) to look to nature for patience and beauty and rhythm.
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