Saturday, May 10, 2008

News of the world

Remember that section of William Carlos Williams's long poem "Asphodel, that Greeny Flower"? The one that talks about getting the news of the world from poetry? About how "it is difficult/ to get the news from poems/ yet men die miserably everyday/for lack/of what is found there"?

Mary Oliver has a new book of poems out, Red Bird, that I just got from the library. This morning after putting Cora down for her nap I opened the book at random, to see what news there was for me. Here is what I found on page 45:

Watching a Documentary about Polar Bears Trying to Survive on the Melting Ice Floes

That God had a plan, I do not doubt.
But what if His plan was, that we would do better?

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