A micro-anthology of Jack Gilbert poems. ‘The best is often when nothing is happening.’

  1. The rooster, ‘They killed the rooster because he could feeling nothing/for the six frumpy hens.’
  2. Tear it down, ‘Love is not/enough. We die and are put into the earth forever./We should insist while there is still time.’
  3. Alone, ‘It is strange that she has returned/as somebody’s dalmatian.’
  4. Horses at midnight without a moon, ‘We know the horses are there in the dark/meadow because we can smell them.’
  5. Married, ‘I came back from the funeral and crawled/around the apartment crying hard,/searching for my wife’s hair.’
  6. What is there to say, ‘there is this/stubborn provincial/singing in me/oh each time.’
  7. Highlights and Interstices, ‘the best is often when nothing is happening.’
  8. Finding Eurydice. Is it possible to quote only one line from this poem?

I ma reading Transgressions, Selected Poems (US link) and finding more and more to enjoy about Jack Gilbert.

3 thoughts on “A micro-anthology of Jack Gilbert poems. ‘The best is often when nothing is happening.’

  1. When did Americans start saying “rooster” instead of “cock”? 1620?

    Why do Americans refer to pasture or paddock as meadow? Is this an old habit or born of modern ignorance of farming?

    The world is full of unpoetic questions. But poetry uses words. And those are word questions.

    I found #5 moving; and #7.

    I also thought this critic’s remark was a bit tin-eared:

    ‘… What I miss most about
    her is that commonplace I can no longer remember.’

    “Prize-winning Jack Gilbert died last week at the age of 87 after suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for several years.”

    Like

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.