  Poetry
This week: Denise Levertov Edited by: Stormy Lady  
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| This is poetry from the minds and the hearts of poets on Writing.Com. The poems I am going to be exposing throughout this newsletter are ones that I have found to be, very visual, mood setting and uniquely done. Stormy Lady |
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Wanting The Moon
by Denise Levertov
Not the moon. A flower
on the other side of the water.
The water sweeps past in flood,
dragging a whole tree by the hair,
a barn, a bridge. The flower
sings on the far bank.
Not a flower, a bird calling
hidden among the darkest trees, music
over the water, making a silence
out of the brown folds of the river's cloak.
The moon. No, a young man walking
under the trees. There are lanterns
among the leaves.
Tender, wise, merry,
his face is awake with its own light,
I see it across the water as if close up.
A jester. The music rings from his bells,
gravely, a tune of sorrow,
I dance to it on my riverbank.
On October 24, 1923 Paul Levertov and his wife Beatrice gave birth to a baby girl, Denise Levertov. The Levertov family lived in Ilford, Essex, England. Levertov was homeschooled by her mother. It is said by the young age of five she told everyone she wanted to be a writer. Then by the age of twelve she even sent her poems to poet T.S. Eliot, who gave her encouragement to continue writing. Levertov published her first poem by the age of seventeen.
During WII Levertov served as the civilian nurse in London. During this time she wrote her first book The Double Image. In 1947 she married Mitchell Goodman and the two moved New York City. The couple had a son together, Nickolai, but their marriage eventually ended in divorce. In 1956 Levertov became a U.S. citizen. Her next book Here and Now, was published in 1956. Levertov was an activist and a feminist. She was also and editor on and off for many years, editing books like, "The Nation" in 1961 and "Mother Jones" 1975. Levertov also taught creative writing at Standford University.
In 1975 she won the Lenore Marshall Poerty Prize for her book Freezing the Dust. Levertov is probably best known for the poetry she wrote during the Vietnam War in the book The Sorrow Dance. In 1989 Levertov moved to Seattle Washington, she spent her last ten years writing poetry. Levertov passed away on December 20th, 1997 due to complications of lymphoma. Her last book of poetry, This Great Unknowing: Last Poems, was published postmortem in 1999.
The Rainwalkers
by Denise Levertov
An old man whose black face
shines golden-brown as wet pebbles
under the streetlamp, is walking two mongrel dogs of dis-
proportionate size, in the rain,
in the relaxed early-evening avenue.
The small sleek one wants to stop,
docile to the imploring soul of the trashbasket,
but the young tall curly one
wants to walk on; the glistening sidewalkentices him to arcane happenings.
Increasing rain. The old bareheaded man
smiles and grumbles to himself.
The lights change: the avenue's
endless nave echoes notes of
liturgical red. He drifts
between his dogs' desires.
The three of them are enveloped -
turning now to go crosstown - in their
sense of each other, of pleasure,
of weather, of corners,
of leisurely tensions between them
and private silence.
Losing Track
by Denise Levertov
Long after you have swung back
away from me
I think you are still with me:
you come in close to the shore
on the tide
and nudge me awake the way
a boat adrift nudges the pier:
am I a pier
half-in half-out of the water?
and in the pleasure of that communion
I lose track,
the moon I watch goes down, the
tide swings you away before
I know I'm
alone again long since,
mud sucking at gray and black
timbers of me,
a light growth of green dreams drying.
Thank you all!
Stormy Lady
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Poetry: March 14, 2012 Issue [#4931]
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