{"id":2777,"date":"2018-10-19T00:00:35","date_gmt":"2018-10-19T04:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=2777"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:45:13","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:45:13","slug":"oct-19-two-long-marriages-with-october-anniversaries-a-denise-levertov-poem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2018\/10\/19\/oct-19-two-long-marriages-with-october-anniversaries-a-denise-levertov-poem\/","title":{"rendered":"Oct 19 — two long marriages with October anniversaries — a Denise Levertov poem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday, October 19 <\/strong>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0\u00a0\u201c. . . not because mind and memory
\nfalter, but . . . \u201d<\/p>\n

Mid October, a chilly, breath-taking weekend across the whole city at the end of this work week. \u00a0Along with emerging autumn colors and glorious skies, we also live within confusing angers, looking out toward a momentous mid-term election now a matter of days away. \u00a0 There is, though, more on offer than weather and public tensions; today one of Denise Levertov\u2019s delicate poems reminded me that October, for me, comes alive with two marriages. One I have known all my life and one is a friendship of two decades: \u00a0 \u00a0my dad died October 12, 1970 and my mom died one week and 25 years later, at age 102. \u00a0 Last Sunday Barbara Shaffer, who has grieved her husband of 58 years who died the day before my dad, \u00a0Bill Shaffer, a Vet and a member of the UAW. \u00a0Their daughter Sarah is a peer counselor in San Francisco for Vets who suffer from PTSD.<\/p>\n

I found a poem Denise Levertov\u2019s\u00a0Evening Train<\/u>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Some poems look out onto vast realities; \u00a0some open into intimate, enduring, resonant love. \u00a0That\u2019s today\u2019s \u201cIn Love.\u201d \u00a0A university engages many sorts of reality. \u00a0That\u2019s what we do here.<\/p>\n

Best to read this a couple times, \u00a0out loud with pauses.<\/p>\n

Have a blest Friday in this mid-October week. \u00a0 \u00a0Crisp autumn sun and wind gusts; \u00a0the sun rides lower in the heavens each day all the way til December\u2019s Solstice.<\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cIn Love\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over gin and tonic (an unusual treat) the ancient poet
\nhaltingly \u2014\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 not because mind and memory
\nfalter, but because language, now,
\nweary from so many years
\nof intense partnership,
\ncomes stiffly to her summons,
\nwith unsure footing \u2014
\nrecounts, for the first time in my hearing, each step
\nof that graceful sarabande, her husband\u2019s
\nlast days, last minutes, fifteen years ago.<\/p>\n

She files her belongings freestyle, jumbled
\nin plastic bags \u2014 poems, old letters, ribbons,
\nold socks, an empty picture frame;
\nbut keeps her fifty years of marriage wrapped, flawless,
\nin something we sense and almost see \u2014
\ndiaphanous as those saris one can pass through a wedding ring.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nDenise Levertov \u00a01923 \u2013 1997
\nfirst Posted on\u00a0October 19, 2015<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday, October 19 \u00a0\u2013\u00a0\u00a0\u201c. . . not because mind and memory falter, but . . . \u201d Mid October, a chilly, breath-taking weekend across the whole city at the end of this work week. \u00a0Along with emerging autumn colors and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2777"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2777"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3104,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2777\/revisions\/3104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}