Monday, December 31, 2012

Happy New Year!/ Islands and Figs by Jack Gilbert

Not a New Year's poem per se, but it does speak of endings.




Islands and Figs

The sky
on and on,
stone.
The Mediterranean
down the cliff,
stone.
These fields,
rock.
Dead weeds
everywhere.
And the weight
of sun.
In the weeds
an old woman
lifting off
snails.
Near
two trees
of ripe figs.
The heart
never fits
the journey.
Always
one ends
first.


Photo note: That's an olive tree not a fig tree. You can see it for yourself: http://www.astragreece.com/writing.html

5 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Ha! I got my blogs mixed up! But...that last line just hit me hard.
    And Happy New Year, Darling DENISE!

    Love...Mary

    P.S. I can't wait to see what this year brings you.

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  3. An impressive share, I just given this onto a colleague who was doing a little analysis on this. And he in fact bought me breakfast because I found it for Desert Safari Dubai

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  4. Thanks for your beautiful writing, incisive insights, and refreshing honesty about your world. Looking forward to another year of good reading. Love you, Kath

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  5. God, that poem. I read it recently in the new collection and couldn't get over it. Tanya also noted it to me in an email -- just amazing. Happy New Year to dear you.

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It's a weird way to have a conversation. But go ahead. Then I'll find your blog (if you have one) and comment about something there. We probably won't be talking about the same thing--but I've had conversations like that, haven't you?