Reading “The River of Bees” by W.S. Merwin

Poetry Lunch S3E7

Reading “The River of Bees” by W.S. Merwin from A House Called Tomorrow: Fifty Years of Poetry, edited by Michael Wiegers, published by Copper Canyon Press.

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Disjointed dreams yet perfect coherence in the language — so much I don’t understand here but grounds me regardless. This poem has me mulling on living vs surviving, vs thriving — I tend to be one for extremes so the idea of a middle ground being the point, or the place is foreign.

I tend to try to get somewhere. I have a lot of experience with survival, with making it through against odds. More than one chip sits on my shoulder close identified with surviving. So the suggestion that we’re not here to do that at all, that we were born “Only to live” — it bowls me over. Then helps me get up.

Merry living to you!

PS the excerpt I read at the end is by Alberto Ríos, from the title poem of the book.

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Link to purchase

Get the book: A House Called Tomorrow: Fifty Years of Poetry.