Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Tuesday Poem: A Song on the End of the World by Czesław Miłosz


On the day the world ends
A bee circles a clover,
A fisherman mends a glimmering net.
Happy porpoises jump in the sea,
By the rainspout young sparrows are playing
And the snake is gold-skinned as it should always be.



Thanks to Melissa Green - my lovely poet friend for posting this poem on her blog once and thus alerting me to it. It's perfect for the week when we think of the Canterbury earthquake that hit two years ago delivering such horrors to that beautiful city ... I also direct you to Fault by Joanna Preston which is on the Tuesday Poem hub.

My thoughts will be with the people of Christchurch on February 22. 

Back to Melissa Green who lives in Boston and is a Tuesday Poem alumni and someone I correspond with - not enough, not nearly enough. Just this evening, I suddenly wanted to see what she was up to - to see she was still writing poems and blogging. She is a quite extraordinary poet. 

Melissa Green
So yes, she's blogging (now and again), but more importantly, I discovered (I must have heard something on the wind) that she's publishing her memoir The Linen Way as an e-book with Rosa Mira Books. I have had the privilege of reading this memoir and the images it left me with are burnt into my memory.  

Such brilliant news... bravo Penelope Todd of Rosa Mira! Bravo Melissa!

Do please check out the TP hub - not only is there Joanna Preston's poem but also, in the sidebar, you'll find poets posting their own work and work by others they admire. Lovely stuff. 

5 comments:

Marylinn Kelly said...

Bravo, bravo. Thank you, Mary. xo

AJ Ponder said...

Tiny problem - in that the link takes me to - "This blog is open to invited readers only"

But the rest of the post looks really pretty...

Tim Jones said...

Great poem, great news about Melissa's memoir appearing from RMB. Thanks for both, Mary!

Helen McKinlay said...

A beautiful wee poem. and Congratulations to Melissa. Thanks Mary

Michelle Elvy said...

Great poem. And the opening stanza reminds me oddly of the poem that Helen Rickerby posted this week too, even if the rest takes a different turn. Interesting that there are sparrows here, and also at the hub this week.