The Red Poppy – Louise Gluck
The great thing
is not having
a mind. Feelings:
oh, I have those; they
govern me. I have
a lord in heaven
called the sun, and open
for him, showing him
the fire of my own heart, fire
like his presence.
What could such glory be
if not a heart? Oh my brothers and sisters,
were you like me once, long ago,
before you were human? Did you
permit yourselves
to open once, who would never
open again? Because in truth
I am speaking now
the way you do. I speak
because I am shattered.
***
The above poem is by Taurus and former Poet Laureate Louise Gluck.
The book where this poem comes from, The Wild Iris, changed the way I approached poems. In the book, Gluck uses flowers as well as the metaphor of gardening to conduct a meditation/conversation with God. Heady stuff. But done with such lyrical directness and power that you can’t help but yearn and ache as you read.
I’m also a sucker for questions that hit like a thunderbolt: the poppy above knows a few of them. The way Gluck pulls off such questions is through nerve and context. In one of her essays in Proofs & Theories, Gluck talks about how she believes in the power of context. Using the red poppy as context, the poet is able to have us bend our heads down to a flower and listen to what it could say about us.
***
Happy questioning!
J
