Utah Savage: The First Poem I Ever Fell In Love With

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

The First Poem I Ever Fell In Love With

The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock was written when T.S. Eliot was twenty two years old.

15 comments:

Mauigirl said...: I hadn't read the whole poem in a long time - I'd forgotten how wonderful it is.

I always think of the line "I've measured out my life with coffee spoons" in the morning when I'm making my coffee and put the spoon down when I'm done...; October 14, 2008 at 11:25 PM
Utah Savage said...: It is wonderful isn't it. It's the opening that so completely garbs me

When the evening is set out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon the table; October 15, 2008 at 12:12 AM
D.K. Raed said...: Pretty heady stuff. "Do I dare disturb the universe?"; October 15, 2008 at 12:42 AM
Dr. Zaius said...: I know that poem! At least the beginning. It is sad about the mermaids not singing to him...; October 15, 2008 at 4:00 AM
Randal Graves said...: I remember years ago when I started writing poetry and I read that exact piece and felt incredibly inferior because I wish I had written it and knew that I never could. I still feel that way, but I've learned to live with it.; October 15, 2008 at 6:41 AM
Comrade Kevin said...: I shall wear white flannel trousers and walk along the beach.; October 15, 2008 at 8:40 AM
Utah Savage said...: I dare to eat a peach; October 15, 2008 at 10:29 AM
Linda-Sama said...: I do like TS, but I fell in love with Leonard Cohen and his poetry when I was a young hippie chick....when my boyfriend's best friend gave me Cohen's The Spice-Box of Earth with this inscription:

"'I'd like to buy you everything, a wooden bird with painted wings, a window filled with painted rings...', but then I'd be playing into the hands of the profit merchants, so I hope this book of beauty will be enough...."

do you think he loved me from afar?

I still treasure this book with its yellowed dog-eared pages and every time I pick it up, I wonder what happened to that young "older" man, who I knew loved me, but did not want to hurt his best friend....

(by the way, sis, when I was a Young Hippie Chick it was decided that I was one of Illinois' best high school poets...I'm just sayin'); October 15, 2008 at 10:36 AM
DivaJood said...: I love how he treated mundane and superficial moments as cause for anxiety - should I wear my trousers rolled? Should I eat a peach?; October 15, 2008 at 11:18 AM
Utah Savage said...: LInda darling, start posting some of your poetry. We are all poetry lovers here.; October 15, 2008 at 11:22 AM
Linda-Sama said...: sis, I never read my old poetry the same way I never look at old pictures of myself -- I am no longer that person -- I am a phoenix, always dying and always being reborn.; October 15, 2008 at 12:23 PM
Linda-Sama said...: the only poem of mine you will ever read, sis -- I woke up with this in my head the day before I left for my third trip.....

MY INDIA
Crows
cows
painted elephants
starving pups that won’t live the week

Begging children
laughing children
in just pressed clothes
run to touch you
giggling girls and
one pen boys

Mango eaters
stone cutters
coconut choppers
bucket sellers
tout screamers

Traffic
chaos
walk
run
jump out of the way
of the family on the scooter
baby on the gas tank

Beggars with one eye
beggars with no legs
women dressed in gold
and rainbow saris
gliding in the streets
unbroken
straight
cool

Dust
dirt
sweat
mixed with jasmine flowers
scenting my hair

Music of the people
for the people
cars honk all day
every day
every night
laughing
crying
spitting
fighting
chanting
om kali ma
om muruga
temple music wakes me
temple music to sleep

Healing
yoga
ayurveda
pure yoga
from the heart
this is the heart
of yoga

Birth
life
death
on the streets
go with the flow
or you go crazy
I’ve seen the
dead men walking

My india
Ma india
home; October 15, 2008 at 12:31 PM
Utah Savage said...: Linda girl, you still have the poet alive within. Thanks for honoring an old woman's request. Post more. Write more. We want poetry.; October 15, 2008 at 12:48 PM
Non Je Ne Regrette Rien said...: beautiful and moving,; October 15, 2008 at 1:57 PM
Ghost Dansing said...: mmmm t.s.eliot like i do....... here is another one done brilliantly.......
Let me be no nearer
In death's dream kingdom
Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves
No nearer--; October 15, 2008 at 6:01 PM