It's interesting how taking our most painful and tortured pieces, re-articulating them through a medium, and putting them on display, can be so *beautiful*. It's like broken glass, welded into something new, and glittering in the moonlight. It hurts us to feel it, and it cuts us to make it. But damn, a little construction and context can really make those melancholy feelings sparkle.
Going to see my dog's grave next week. As the day approaches, I've felt increasingly melancholic. She was only 7 and went out so fast we couldn't even complete the tests that morning. It's been 2 years since then. I don't go there to have some cringe conversation with her - I know she's not there, but I'm still taking the 1 1/2 trip to lay some flowers on her grave and reminisce. Frankly, I didn't love her as much as I should have, and that thought has been painful to bear.
I know losing your pet isn't nearly as big of a deal as losing a significant other or immediate family member, but it's been my first real experience with grief and Curtis' poems have also touched me in a way that have helped me in maturing and dealing with grief in a productive way.
COMPLETELY off-topic, but I figured Yarvin would be likeliest to see this comment if it were put on his newest post, so: I'm curious what Yarvin thinks about the closure of Yale-NUS in Singapore? Read this article for a very partial take on the situation:
Hillary died at 88 which is a pretty good run. Mallory died "doing what he loved," which has a certain romance. I suspect neither left a good looking corpse although Mallory probably looked better from the waist down.
Curtis, this is an awesome and fearful poem! This Comments page shows it spread out in a full page width, but I think it is meant as the narrow column version. The narrow column version looks like a poem, but without rhymes! Then as I read it, the poem has it's own cadence and momentum, without the standard use of rhyming. You mixed together biography, autobiography, history, and political commentary in an amazing swirling whirl of words. I read your grief and writing a poem about it is a wise way to help process and maybe heal someday. I got a jolt with the last line that this goes for the USA, too! Too much book learning can make you weary, too. Make the USA a free and good place for your kids, then their kids someday, too.
I feel like these poems have better prepared me to map my own future grief.
Dude I'm humbled. If my wife ever dies on me, I wish I could be so inspired to write like this about her
It's interesting how taking our most painful and tortured pieces, re-articulating them through a medium, and putting them on display, can be so *beautiful*. It's like broken glass, welded into something new, and glittering in the moonlight. It hurts us to feel it, and it cuts us to make it. But damn, a little construction and context can really make those melancholy feelings sparkle.
Thank you for sharing.
Going to see my dog's grave next week. As the day approaches, I've felt increasingly melancholic. She was only 7 and went out so fast we couldn't even complete the tests that morning. It's been 2 years since then. I don't go there to have some cringe conversation with her - I know she's not there, but I'm still taking the 1 1/2 trip to lay some flowers on her grave and reminisce. Frankly, I didn't love her as much as I should have, and that thought has been painful to bear.
I know losing your pet isn't nearly as big of a deal as losing a significant other or immediate family member, but it's been my first real experience with grief and Curtis' poems have also touched me in a way that have helped me in maturing and dealing with grief in a productive way.
You can compare whatever you want between UR and GM but I think Curtis’ poetry has only gotten better.
Thank you
Impertinent to comment, really. Thought it was too long, and then didn’t
COMPLETELY off-topic, but I figured Yarvin would be likeliest to see this comment if it were put on his newest post, so: I'm curious what Yarvin thinks about the closure of Yale-NUS in Singapore? Read this article for a very partial take on the situation:
https://medium.com/@bryanvannorden_14478/the-global-fight-for-the-humanities-5ab58ea8bfff
thanks! I had no idea.
Hillary died at 88 which is a pretty good run. Mallory died "doing what he loved," which has a certain romance. I suspect neither left a good looking corpse although Mallory probably looked better from the waist down.
Curtis, this is an awesome and fearful poem! This Comments page shows it spread out in a full page width, but I think it is meant as the narrow column version. The narrow column version looks like a poem, but without rhymes! Then as I read it, the poem has it's own cadence and momentum, without the standard use of rhyming. You mixed together biography, autobiography, history, and political commentary in an amazing swirling whirl of words. I read your grief and writing a poem about it is a wise way to help process and maybe heal someday. I got a jolt with the last line that this goes for the USA, too! Too much book learning can make you weary, too. Make the USA a free and good place for your kids, then their kids someday, too.