“The purpose of poetry is to return that which is familiar to its original strangeness.”
Charles Simic
#charlessimic #poetry #arspoetica
In my head, I’m a passenger on a ghost ship.
Charles Simic
https://yalereview.org/article/chalres-simic-blood-orange
Blood Orange
#VerseThursday #charlessimic #poem #poetry #todayspoem
Los cuadernos de Vieco
Cuaderno de poemas. «Castillo de naipes». Charles Simic
Os extraño, tardes de invierno
con vuestras luces tenues.
Los labios cerrados de mi madre...
https://loscuadernosdevieco.blog/2023/01/15/cuaderno-de-poemas-castillo-de-naipes-charles-simic
I have remembered how much I love Charles Simic's translations of Vasko Popa. here's an old writing exercise I developed based on this poem from the Quartz Pebble cycle.
The entire cycle is like this poem, crunchy & weird. It's one of my favourite cycles in the world - you can read Anne Pennington translating more of them here (though I don't love her translations as much as I do Simic's): https://modernpoetryintranslation.com/poem/the-quartz-pebble/
#writingexercise #poetry #charlessimic #vaskopopa
"A little white dog ran into the street
And got entangled with the soldiers' feet.
A kick made him fly as if he had wings.
That's what I keep seeing!
Night coming down. A dog with wings."
Opinion: Remembering poet Charles Simic : NPR
https://www.npr.org/2023/01/14/1149214853/opinion-remembering-poet-charles-simic
New Yorker: Charles Simic in The New Yorker https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/aizenman-simic #NewYorker #Culture/Postscript #Books/Page-Turner #CharlesSimic #PoetLaureate #Writers #Poetry #Poets
#newyorker #Culture #books #charlessimic #poetlaureate #writers #poetry #poets
#CharlesSimic was a Pulitzer winner, not yet a Poet laureate—I didn’t know him, had never studied w/him, had never met him, when, at a particularly difficult time in my writing life, he plucked a #poem of mine called “Lonicera Fragrantissima” from a contest slush pile & awarded it an honorable mention. I have kept this in heart & mind gratefully since. His mix of wit & depth & bite. Lux Aeterna , Charles Simic. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/remembering-pulitzer-winning-poet-charles-simic
can
he
allow
real
light
entry
still
something
is
midair,
is
clouded
---
for #charlessimic
#CharlesSimic. I can't find this one online - which book is this in?? It ends, something like (and I'm certainly bungling this),
"I want something with truffles of Périgord,
is what I said to her
"In Périgord where the poets only talk of love," she exclaimed, her mouth smeared with strawberries and cream
I'm squeezing her hand, she's squeezing my hand
We're going down to the cellar where they keep
Little dark chocolates filled with the almonds of heaven and hell"
There was someone with eyes closed
on the upper floors.
Ooteoote-serie Poetry in motion, 389: Charles Simic, The white room
https://bit.ly/PIM389-simic
#CharlesSimic #animatie #dingen #bezield #onbezield
#charlessimic #animatie #dingen #bezield #onbezield
There was someone with eyes closed
On the upper floors.
Ooteoote-serie Poetry in motion, 389: Charles Simic, The white room
https://bit.ly/PIM389-simic
#CharlesSimic #animatie #dingen #bezield #onbezield
#charlessimic #animatie #dingen #bezield #onbezield
"I think what appealed to me before I even learned about the structure was the sheer recklessness of it, the freedom, the wildness. I always thought of a poet as somebody playing at two o’clock in the morning holding a saxophone, playing for a bunch of drunks. I mean the poet is in kind of a similar situation. When you pay attention to something... your knowledge grows, you understand how different things work. (then) you realize what mastery means in an art form."
#Poem *MY TURN TO CONFESS*
“A dog trying to write a poem on why he barks, That's me, dear reader!
They were about to kick me out of the library
But I warned them,
My master is invisible and all powerful.
Still, they kept dragging me out by the tail.
In the park the birds spoke freely of their own vexations.
On a bench, I saw an old woman
Cutting her white curly hair with imaginary scissors While staring into a small pocket mirror.
I didn't say anything then,
But that night I lay slumped on the floor, Chewing on a pencil,
Sighing from time to time,
Growling, too, at something out there I could not bring myself to name.”
#poem #charlessimic #mynoiselessentourage #poetrycommunity
My Secret Identity Is
The room is empty
and the window is open
Charles Simic
#rip #charlessimic #poetry #poem #todayspoem
Whether or not you are familiar with Charles Simic's poetry, this 2005 interview with him is well worth a read -- it's substantive and cuts a wide swath of reference to touchstones in 20th Century poetry.
https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/5507/the-art-of-poetry-no-90-charles-simic
#bookstodon #poetry #literature #charlessimic
RIP #charlessimic His magic brew of dark humor, sensuality, tight cinematic scenes
#writing #poetry #charlessimic
"I write to annoy God, to make Death laugh. I write because I can't get it right. I write because I want every woman in the world to fall in love with me." —Charles Simic
#writing #poetry #charlessimic
DICIEMBRE
Nieva
y los vagabundos todavía
van
cargando con sus pancartas–
una proclama
el fin del mundo
la otra
los precios de una barbería local.
(Charles Simic)