Say Uncle – Kay Ryan
Every day
you say,
Just one
more try.
Then another
irrecoverable
day slips by.
You will
say ankle,
you will
say knuckle;
why won’t
you why
won’t you
say uncle?
***
This week on the Influence: Kay Ryan.
When I go back to this poem, I’m always taken in by the speed of it. It is deceptive how short the poem is because of how much is in it – humor, rhyme, a certain emotional urgency that I can’t after years of reading the poem seem to find a source for.
It’s just there.
In the tight lines, in the way the word “irrecoverable” takes up its own line and damn you can feel the weight of loss in one word, one word long and wide like open arms.
Words like ice. Nice.
***
Here’s one more by Ryan:
Atlas – Kay Ryan
Extreme exertion
isolates a person
from help,
discovered Atlas.
Once a certain
shoulder-to-burden
ratio collapses,
there is so little
others can do:
they can’t
lend a hand
with Brazil
and not stand
on Peru.
***
Happy standing!
J
***
* great interview! http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/5889/the-art-of-poetry-no-94-kay-ryan
