Thanks to John Burns for sending me this truly wonderful birthday poem! With reference to I turned 70 today!
The Truly Great by Stephen Spender
I think continually of those who were truly great.
Who, from the womb, remembered the soul’s history
Through corridors of light, where the hours are suns,
Endless and singing. Whose lovely ambition
Was that their lips, still touched with fire,
Should tell of the Spirit, clothed from head to foot in song.
And who hoarded from the Spring branches
The desires falling across their bodies like blossoms.
What is precious, is never to forget
The essential delight of the blood drawn from ageless springs
Breaking through rocks in worlds before our earth.
Never to deny its pleasure in the morning simple light
Nor its grave evening demand for love.
Never to allow gradually the traffic to smother
With noise and fog, the flowering of the spirit.
Near the snow, near the sun, in the highest fields,
See how these names are fêted by the waving grass
And by the streamers of white cloud
And whispers of wind in the listening sky.
The names of those who in their lives fought for life,
Who wore at their hearts the fire’s centre.
Born of the sun, they travelled a short while toward the sun
And left the vivid air signed with their honour.
Hafiz’s poem, translated by Daniel Ladinsky, of leaving something behind in the world to inspire others, is exemplified in the singer-songwriting musical skills of the late Jesse Winchester. Read Hafiz’s poem, Leave something in the marketplace, then listen and be moved when Jesse sings this love song, Sham-A-Ling-Dong-Ding.
Leave something in the marketplace
Sometimes it can happen to these cheeks when a poem visits my mind for the first time and begins to look around.
They can wonder why rain is falling on them, and causing my nose to run too.
O boy, what a mess love makes of me. But there is nothing else right now I would rather
be doing . . . than reaping something from a field in another dimension
and leaving it in the marketplace for any who might happen by.
Leave something in the marketplace for us before you leave this world.
Singer-songwriter Jesse Winchester (May 17, 1944 – April 11, 2014) left many beautiful songs for us in the marketplace (IMDb). Jesse appeared on Week 2 of Elvis Costello’s TV show, Spectacle. Elvis Costello, Ron Sexsmith, Sheryl Crow, and Neko Case joined Jesse Winchester to perform “Payday“. Jesse also a sang about the sweet shyness of young love. Listen to the poetic melodic musings of Sham-A-Ling-Dong-Dingas it wets your cheeks and lifts your mouth into a wistful smile.
I first met Jesse in Montreal at a friend’s place during the summer of ’67. He had been drafted to fight in the Vietnam War, which he did not support, and came to Canada instead. He stayed and made a name for himself as a fine singer-songwriter.
Robbie Robertson of The Band produced Jesse’s first album. But he couldn’t return to the states to tour until after all “draft dodgers” were pardoned by President Carter. I remember him singing The Brand New Tennesse Waltz and Yankee Lady, which ended up on his self-titled debut album. I also liked Say What (Talk Memphis), which became a hit. Mississippi You’re On My Mind (Learn to Love It) is another beautiful, vividly-written song.
Many top recording artists would go on to perform Jesse’s songs, and he became known as a first-rate songwriter. Even Bob Dylan was famously quoted as saying of Mr. Winchester: “You can’t talk about the best songwriters and not include him. If you know me well, you know I think Jesse IS the very best.” Lyle Lovett also spoke highly of him. In 2007, a special musical tribute was given to singer-songwriter Jesse Winchester, when he was honored with The ASCAP Foundation Life in Music Award.
You can’t talk about the best songwriters and not include him. If you know me well, you know I think Jesse IS the very best. — Bob Dylan
Decades later, I went to one of Jesse’s concerts on his tour through Iowa. He was surprised to find me here. It was sweet to see him again, now free to play in the states and accept the recognition for his great talent.
Remembering Jesse Winchester
Here is some news coverage of Jesse’s recent passing, reviewing his life and career, in The Commercial Appeal, USA Today, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, and C-Ville Weekly. From all his fans, and friends who knew him, I’m sure they would agree with Hafiz that Jesse Winchester did leave a lot of good music in the marketplace, and love in their hearts. You did well, Jesse. We thank you!
Jesse Winchester Radio Special: Listen to a special 2007 radio interview and music special with Jesse Winchester recorded by Donna Green-Townsend for WUFT-FM before Jesse’s scheduled performance at the Butterfly Festival in Gainesville, FL. In this program Jesse talked about his early years in Mississippi and Memphis, the inspiration for many of his songs and what he thinks about the music industry today. He also talks about the number of artists who have recorded many of his songs including The Everly Brothers, Waylon Jennings, Wynonna Judd, Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, Reba McEntire, and Elvis Costello to name a few. RIP Jesse.
Roots Music Canada uploaded a Jesse Winchester interview on April 13, 2010 with RMC’s editor-in-chief David Newland, from Hugh’s Room, Toronto, a venue Jesse launched about a decade ago, and one for which he has the highest regard.
September 2, 2014: Rolling Stone: Hear the Late Jesse Winchester’s Chilling Dissertation on Dying — Song Premiere. “Every Day I Get the Blues” appears on the final album by Winchester, who died April 11th. A Reasonable Amount of Trouble, is a gentle collection of playful songs about love, memory and gratitude that amounts to one of the most moving, triumphant albums of Winchester’s 45-year career.
Previous inductees include: Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Otis Redding, B.B. King, Isaac Hayes, Al Green, Howlin’ Wolf, Sam Phillips, Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland, Albert King, Rufus Thomas, Willie Mitchell, Carla Thomas, Booker T & The MGs, The Staple Singers, and the ‘Father of The Blues’ W.C. Handy.
I’m not young enough to know everything. ― Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
By the time you’re eighty years old you’ve learned everything. You only have to remember it. ― George Burns (1896–1996)
Two kinds of knowledge
There are two kinds of knowledge: Youth knows it all, without having lived; And having lived and learned, Old Age Soon forgets what it’s come to know.
Then there’s the wisdom Of knowing you know nothing; But knowing your Self.
― Ken Chawkin (1944–still learning)
The Coming Of Wisdom With Time
Though leaves are many, the root is one; Through all the lying days of my youth I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun; Now I may wither into the truth.
― William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
― Socrates (469–399 B.C.E.)
Know thyself.
― Ancient Greek aphorism on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi
Those who know others are wise; those who know themselves are enlightened.
— Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592, one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance)
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
— Viktor Frankl(Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist, philosopher, and Holocaust survivor, who founded logotherapy, a school of psychotherapy that describes a search for a life’s meaning as the central human motivational force.)
The older I get, the surer I am that I’m not running the show.
Later added: These two famous quotes from an older more mature place in one’s life hold much wisdom.
When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people. — Abraham Joshua Heschel
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. ― Maya Angelou
Sitting with Sali on a cold winter Sunday afternoon at Parkview Care Center, looking out the window of her room at the powdered snow being blown off the white roofs in swirls. At one point, with the sun shining through in front of us, you could almost see a rainbow; only it was a snowbow! Made that up. We laughed. I had been in a rough mood, but what I saw, and the spontaneous playful art of composing a haiku, transformed me. The second and third lines came out first, and the first line last. I changed wind blows to winds blow to rhyme with snow. The rhythms, rhymes and meanings of the words sort of sound like what we saw. They’re powerful. Say them aloud a few times and see what happens. Sali seemed to like it. I love it! it’s fun! Here’s the poem.
WINTER HAIKU
The winter winds blow
Swirling whirling dervishes
Of powdery snow
New York poet laureate Marie Howe speaks with Krista Tippett about her poetry on the NPR show, On Being. Closing the interview, The Poetry of Ordinary Time, recorded In The Room, April 2013, Howe reads a poem in the voice of Mary, mother of Jesus, describing the Annunciation, which, her friend and mentor, Stanley Kunitz, said no one had ever gotten right. She wrote several versions, tore them up, and then this final one came through her.
Marie Howe said it had nothing to do with her. It just came through her, a reminder that the best poetry comes through us when we get out of the way. When we are emptied of our small self, “by being no one,” transcend our senses and turn within and are open to the higher Self, then that great creative force of Love within us creates, and the miracle of life, of poetry, happens. You can hear “Annunciation” by Marie Howe on SoundCloud.
Thought this screen save from the video is most appropriate with the poster of Mother Mary holding the infant Jesus!
Marie Howe reads her poem “Annunciation” to Krista Tippett for On Being
Annunciation
Even if I don’t see it again—nor ever feel it I know it is—and that if once it hailed me it ever does—
And so it is myself I want to turn in that direction not as towards a place, but it was a tilting within myself,
as one turns a mirror to flash the light to where it isn’t—I was blinded like that—and swam in what shone at me
only able to endure it by being no one and so specifically myself I thought I’d die from being loved like that.
This amazingly beautiful and profound poem can be found at 1:36:02 at the end of the interview, but she starts talking about it at 1:34:45. There are six audio clips of Howe reading her poems posted on SoundCloudrecorded on March 16, 2003, at the College of Saint Benedict in Saint Joseph Minnesota.
Enjoy reading: The Millions Interviews Marie Howe—Words Can Sustain and Save Us, published January 11, 2018, where Marie describes what the writing and reading of poetry has done for her, and what it can do for the rest of us. This Q&A particularly reinforces the point Marie Howe made to Krista Tippett when writing “Annunciation.”
TM: Do you think of writing as a spiritual act at its core?
MH: I do, because it involves a wonderful contradiction, which is, in order for it to happen, you have to be there, and you have to disappear. Both. You know, nothing feels as good as that. Being there and disappearing—being possessed by something else. Something happening through you, but you’re attending it. There are few other things in the world like that, but writing is pretty much a relief from the self—and yet the self has to be utterly there.
William Stafford in his poem, Rx Creative Writing: Identity, also writes about being open to “that bone light,” which “belongs inside of things.” And “You know so sure there burns a central vividness.” He reiterates this idea of being a recipient, a receptacle, and an attendant, a reporter: “It tells you; all you do is tell about it.”
In her poem, Mindful, Mary Oliver delights in the world around her, which leaves her “like a needle in the haystack of light. It was what I was born for — to look, to listen, to lose myself inside this soft world — to instruct myself over and over in joy, and acclamation.”
Oliver codifies this message in 3 short, powerful sentences in the 4th stanza of Sometimes, where she gives us “Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.”
Later added this article/interview by Kim Rosen for Spirituality&Health, Feb 16, 2014: Marie Howe: Holding the Silence. The acclaimed poet reflects on prayer, desperation, and letting go of what can’t be said. (PDF)
This past Thursday, September 19, 2013, turned out to be an early Full Moon night. For some reason I ended up visiting Sali 3 times that day, twice to drop off things. The first time I stayed with her as she and the other residents were going to be entertained by a country music band. Their gentle songs from the fifties brought back memories when I first heard them as a child. It was very relaxing and healing for us as we listened together. When I returned later that night to read to her, she was already in bed. I leaned in and looked closely into her eyes. We both started laughing out loud, with great joy in our hearts. While sharing this experience with a friend at lunch today, the day of the autumnal equinox, I spoke of experiencing an orgasm of the heart. She repeated that line, and said it was something special. I noticed it also had seven syllables and wrote it down. Later, when we all went out for a walk together, the rest of the haiku easily assembled itself. I shared it with her; it sounded powerful. She said it gave her goosebumps, from head to toe and back.
Haiku of the Heart for Sali
♥ ♥ ♥
Such joy between us
An orgasm of the heart
Looking in your eyes
Ansel Adams sits up
reaches for his camera—
his arm bony as a tripod leg
for it is “Magic Light”
the golden light of sunrise
and sunset.
But then he lays back down
and focusing instead
through the lens of his soul
in the black box of his skull
he sees… all the light
that ever filled Yosemite
or blazed the crosses at Hernandez
and with his brittle jaw
with its few teeth remaining
there in the dark room of a coffin
he smiles.
“Magic Light” by Bill Graeser won the Iowa Poetry Association’s 2012 Norman Thomas Memorial Award. Bill posted it August 28, 2012.
Congratulations, Bill, you deserve this memorial award for a memorial poem of the great Ansel Adams. I’m sure he’d approve, and be pleased! Visit https://www.anseladams.com for more amazing photos.
I found this detailed interview with Marc Silber and Michael Adams: An Inside Look at Ansel Adams’ Photography In Yosemite, posted April 10, 2013. (I also found this fascinating video posted by Silber Studios on Ansel Adams Most Famous Photograph: Moon Over Hernandez.) Marc is given a tour of the house and darkroom by Ansel’s son, Michael Adams. He was seven years old and with his father when he took the iconic picture of the moonrise over Hernandez and described how he created it. The music was composed by Andrew Buffett, the American musician, composer, author and philanthropist. Peter is an Emmy Award winner, New York Times best-selling author and co-chair of the NoVo Foundation. He is the youngest son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett. Here is an earlier video posted by Marc Silber about advice on how to visualize your photos, from a rare interview with Ansel Adams: Photography Visualization Advice by Ansel Adams. Photo visualization was so important to Ansel Adams that he made it the first chapter of his book on photography. See more of Marc’s videos on Ansel Adams.
The Uncarved Blog 