Miracles - 4. . . . your fingers like bubbles move . . .

. . . an installment unloved and unread . . .

11 hours ago, AC Benus said:

. . . an installment unloved and unread . . .

 

... or perhaps overlooked and unread, thanks to the notification that came only on "opening day".  I'd been watching for the additional chapters, and wasn't aware of this one until I followed up on yesterday's notification for the next chapter.

I just spent an educational hour or so reading about August Stramm.  This was the most informative source:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/august-stramm

And this perhaps is the crux of the matter:

Quote

Reading Stramm’s poetry as “a conflict between two simultaneously present but fundamentally irreconcilable belief systems,” Sheppard [a critic writing about Stramm] pointed out that Stramm “experienced those dilemmas ... as acutely painful problems which involved his whole personality, not just his abstracting intellect, and it is for this reason that his strange, challenging poetry will continue to intrigue long after so much of the autistic inflation which currently passes for ‘theory’ has been consigned to the waste-paper baskets of intellectual history.”

So if one cannot comprehend the poet or the poems, one can appreciate that the agitation caused by "dilemmas" possessed by a poet 100 years ago in a different culture using a different language comes through clearly in the translation.  That's the part I love, and perhaps it's the most important  

An interesting exploration of poems by a complex man.  One thought I had is that this group of poems all highlighted his vulnerability in harsh honesty.

I'm not an expert on poetry and I don't read poems often, but I definitely have felt a wide range of emotions from reading the selections you've presented.  

On 4/15/2023 at 9:03 PM, Backwoods Boy said:

... or perhaps overlooked and unread, thanks to the notification that came only on "opening day".  I'd been watching for the additional chapters, and wasn't aware of this one until I followed up on yesterday's notification for the next chapter.

I just spent an educational hour or so reading about August Stramm.  This was the most informative source:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/august-stramm

And this perhaps is the crux of the matter:

So if one cannot comprehend the poet or the poems, one can appreciate that the agitation caused by "dilemmas" possessed by a poet 100 years ago in a different culture using a different language comes through clearly in the translation.  That's the part I love, and perhaps it's the most important  

 

Thank you, Jon. In an ideal world, the artistry of a piece should speak for itself, and I know lots of artists are loathe to "tell" anyone how they should think or feel about what they've presented. Scholars -- well, lol -- they are of a different mind altogether! It's always a tossup if I read others' ideas concerning what I have my hands dirty with until after I've done my business with someone else's work. I'm even avoiding reading August von Platen's journals while I'm translating his Sonnets, for, again, I'd like each of his poems to have the room they need to breathe.

Thanks again for reading these "DU" poems. Challenge, heartache, headache -- all part of love, right?

On 4/15/2023 at 10:31 PM, raven1 said:

An interesting exploration of poems by a complex man.  One thought I had is that this group of poems all highlighted his vulnerability in harsh honesty.

Thank you, Terry! You've said something I have thought almost since starting my efforts with the "THOU" poems: Stramm is being entirely vulnerable here. He seems not to care if he exposes himself (pun...intended? unintended, lol), or what reaction the publication of these poems might garner him in the press.

After more than 110 years though, it's clear he's won. His bold parsing of phrases, images and idea are greeted by some living poets today as "not unique." Well, mavericks become lost under leaf litter too I guess. But I'll always know how influential August Stramm has been to Western poetry, period.

Thanks once more!

On 4/17/2023 at 1:21 PM, wildone said:

I read this quote and maybe it enlightened me a bit about what one persons opinion of Stramm's poetry is. Unfortunately the emotion and interpretation I see is probably a lot more simple and less wordy 😛 

But I do get it  Thanks!

lol, thanks, wildone! We're probably both in the less-wordy camp with it comes to reading Stramm's poetry. He asks us to inhabit his space for a while, and if we do, he promises us quite an engaging journey. But, in the end -- as I've already mentioned in past comments -- it's about the heart's understanding. The mind is the mind is the mind, and always alone wherever it treads.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts. You're the best  

10 hours ago, Bill W said:

I'm not an expert on poetry and I don't read poems often, but I definitely have felt a wide range of emotions from reading the selections you've presented.  

Thank you, Bill, for taking this journey with Stramm and me. Many miles have been walked, it feels, since I first set out to translate this collection of "Lover Poems." I guess like any journey, there are highlights and lowlights; things engaging us as memorable, and things better left forgotten.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and support. They're greatly appreciated 

On 4/30/2023 at 5:29 PM, Valkyrie said:

These poems are definitely a roller coaster of emotions, as someone else said.  I can relate to the shyness preventing an Encounter from taking place.  I also found Almighty thought-provoking.  

Thank you, Valkyrie. I'm rather fond of Almighty. It's a very intense piece to me. It also is the only Expressionist poem I've encountered so far that dabbles into rhetoric. It seems modern German poets avoided it like the plague, but here, Stramm reclaims it in very convincing style. At least to me

Thanks again for reading and offering support. It's greatly appreciated