One Hundred and Fifty-Five Sonnets - 26. lack of support

You move from strength to strength, and I was captivated by these.

Sonnet 51: I am struck by the dystopic vision in this sonnet. It is as vivid and terrifying as anything Hollywood produces. The line saying the future will be state-of-the-art tells us so much about what we are told about the desirability of technological advance. We should want it because it is advanced, and advancement is irresistible. But your volta renews the reader, encourages us all; mankind will still know Love. For all the advancement, and all the consequent hurt and decay cannot change that. I am sworn to remember this as the days ahead darken.

Sonnet 52: You had me in the first two lines; they brought visions of architectural wonders and treasures to mind, one tumbling after the other. I had to stop reading and start over, I was so distracted. The way you describe the building of these structures is apt and telling, and I love the sensuality of unit by unit these inner stones click / to lift us to what we most desire. I hear and feel the bricks and the stones. And you make them plainer still with it's the love we lay down one for the other, one good thought at a time…. But the last couplet is immortal: when love has laid out and measured the space. You have built an edifice for the ages.

On 1/5/2017 at 9:17 AM, Parker Owens said:

You move from strength to strength, and I was captivated by these.

 

Sonnet 51: I am struck by the dystopic vision in this sonnet. It is as vivid and terrifying as anything Hollywood produces. The line saying the future will be state-of-the-art tells us so much about what we are told about the desirability of technological advance. We should want it because it is advanced, and advancement is irresistible. But your volta renews the reader, encourages us all; mankind will still know Love. For all the advancement, and all the consequent hurt and decay cannot change that. I am sworn to remember this as the days ahead darken.

 

Sonnet 52: You had me in the first two lines; they brought visions of architectural wonders and treasures to mind, one tumbling after the other. I had to stop reading and start over, I was so distracted. The way you describe the building of these structures is apt and telling, and I love the sensuality of unit by unit these inner stones click / to lift us to what we most desire. I hear and feel the bricks and the stones. And you make them plainer still with it's the love we lay down one for the other, one good thought at a time…. But the last couplet is immortal: when love has laid out and measured the space. You have built an edifice for the ages.

Wow, thanks, Parker. Such a fantastic review… My opening comments will be about writing this collection as a whole. Many of them followed in a close timeframe with one another, and certain themes got explored, developed, returned to, and then set aside. In my mind 'the 50's' of the Tony Sonnets form the architectural series. Part of this has to do with Shakespeare's Sonnet 55, which has always been one of my favorite poems. I needed to tackle it and pay tribute in some form, and soon my 50s took on a decidedly stony cast.

In regards to No. 51, just last night I saw a time-lapse video of how the smog in Beijing is smothering all life. It's thicker than pea soup, and laced with tons of arsenic. There is no worldwide effort (no leadership) to try and lessen the damage we are doing, so nothing will stop it now. We are officially, by popular vote (perhaps) ostriches with our heads in the sand; denying the obvious for reasons of convenience and corporate wealth.

For No. 52, thank you! You offer great feedback, as the initial quatrain of this one is meant to be more of a challenge to the reader. The message is not hard to grasp, but the images themselves are important too.

Thanks again for all your support and feedback. It's a treasure for me to have

The vision in no. 51 unfortunately I share. I am so glad I have no children, for that future time of the first line, could well be a not so distant future. How do we explain to a child how shortsighted, selfish and greedy for money and new technology the present and past generations have been. The present one being the one more to blame than the past ones, because in this time and age the excuse of having no means to be informed doesn't apply.
The future time as visioned may not be there for us yet, but it is with shame that I will look into the eyes yet unborn after the birth.
The process of these thoughts with me usually ends after your eighth line.
But fortunately it is a sonnet, so more lines follow. And what hopeful and inspiring ones they are.
Although my faith in mankind is not as resolute as that of the poet, I very much would like to believe the vision will not eventually become reality. But if it does though, I share the believe that Love will survive and even maybe thrive in the bleak and desolate times ahead.

The architectural poem (no. 52), full of wonderful analogies, made me wonder why I do like to read poetry. One aspect of it is, that the pictures a poet does paint, all of a sudden visualizes feelings, often old ones, that remained in a world of its own somewhere in the brain, but never explicitly surfaced before.
This happened with this poem with the phrase unit by unit these inner stones click. For isn't that what love is all about, the clicking of inner stones between people. The construction formed that way can make an undestructible building...
... although maintenance will always be required.

On 1/8/2017 at 4:52 AM, J.HunterDunn said:

The vision in no. 51 unfortunately I share. I am so glad I have no children, for that future time of the first line, could well be a not so distant future. How do we explain to a child how shortsighted, selfish and greedy for money and new technology the present and past generations have been. The present one being the one more to blame than the past ones, because in this time and age the excuse of having no means to be informed doesn't apply.

The future time as visioned may not be there for us yet, but it is with shame that I will look into the eyes yet unborn after the birth.

The process of these thoughts with me usually ends after your eighth line.

But fortunately it is a sonnet, so more lines follow. And what hopeful and inspiring ones they are.

Although my faith in mankind is not as resolute as that of the poet, I very much would like to believe the vision will not eventually become reality. But if it does though, I share the believe that Love will survive and even maybe thrive in the bleak and desolate times ahead.

 

The architectural poem (no. 52), full of wonderful analogies, made me wonder why I do like to read poetry. One aspect of it is, that the pictures a poet does paint, all of a sudden visualizes feelings, often old ones, that remained in a world of its own somewhere in the brain, but never explicitly surfaced before.

This happened with this poem with the phrase unit by unit these inner stones click. For isn't that what love is all about, the clicking of inner stones between people. The construction formed that way can make an undestructible building...

... although maintenance will always be required.

Thank you, Peter. This is a wonderful review and it makes me feel blessed. I'm struck most by your mentioning of 'inner stones click.' We all of guilty of building lovely facades (or tough ones, or crass ones, or 'nice' ones) for how we relate to people in the outside world, but our inner feelings often feel too vulnerable to ridicule, so we keep them hidden. Sometimes this hidden aspect even applies to building partitions within ourselves; I know I did from the time I was thirteen until I came out at age 21. However, sometimes your inner stones and my inner stones click, and what a glorious process is it to discover this.

As for the message of No. 51, it's sometimes very difficult to keep the faith that mankind is advancing as a species. When did the very notion of 'progress' become a thing that generates fear? Whatever it is, it appears in many forms – religious and political, especially – all around the world. I hope we can get back on track.

Thanks for another heartfelt set of comments. I always appreciate them.