Tags
blogging101, Creative Writing, Friday Favorites, Journaling, Leonard E. Nathan, Poetry, Writing 101
Leonard E. Nathan
Leonard E. Nathan, (November 8 1924 – June 3, 2007) was an American poet, critic, and professor emeritus of rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley where he retired in 1991.
Among other honors, he received the National Institute of Arts and Letters prize for poetry, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Phelan Award for Narrative Poetry, and three silver medals from the Commonwealth Club of California, including one for The Potato Eaters. His poems were also published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, New England Review and The Georgia Review, among other publications. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)
Toast
There was a woman in Ithaca
who cried softly all night
in the next room and helpless
I fell in love with her under the blanket
of snow that settled on all the roofs
of the town, filling up
every dark depression.
Next morning
in the motel coffee shop
I studied all the made-up faces
of women. Was it the middle-aged blonde
who kidded the waitress
or the young brunette lifting
her cup like a toast?
Love, whoever you are,
your courage was my companion
for many cold towns
after the betrayal of Ithaca,
and when I order coffee
in a strange place, still
I say, lifting, this is for you.
taohobo said:
Reblogged this on Haiku Journey and commented:
Fitting to finally get back to my blog and find a poet whose input has ended but whose, through poetry, will never be stilled.
LikeLike
Zareen said:
awwww, this is beautiful!
LikeLike
JMDLEFLORE said:
This is very beautiful indeed. I love the title he came ups with as well. I will have to search him up a little more. Inspired Friday. Thanks friend!
LikeLiked by 1 person
calensariel said:
Thanks, J! I thought the poem was kind of haunting and sad. I’m not real familiar with other work of his, but I DO love this poem! {{{J}}}
LikeLiked by 1 person
JMDLEFLORE said:
Its amazing how love can be found, even if its from the sound of the woman crying in the next room. Something brings about this connection of melancholy emotion and story about how we determine what we fall in love with and makes this so intriguing to me. Definitely can see the sad song though.
LikeLiked by 2 people
calensariel said:
I hadn’t looked at it that way. Sometimes I wish there was a poetry group around here to get involved in. Utah is SO lame!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
JMDLEFLORE said:
Yeah but you have us and the rest of the blogosphere to keep you going until said poetry group is created.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Amy said:
Wow, beautiful poem.
LikeLiked by 2 people
calensariel said:
It is, isn’t it. If I could ask him one question it’d be, how long after that night did you write this poem… Too bad he’s passed. I might actually have tried to contact him. I was really curious.
LikeLike