{"id":3578,"date":"2020-07-15T00:00:40","date_gmt":"2020-07-15T04:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/?p=3578"},"modified":"2020-07-15T11:23:24","modified_gmt":"2020-07-15T15:23:24","slug":"july-15-denise-levertov-shameless-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2020\/07\/15\/july-15-denise-levertov-shameless-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"July 15 – Denise Levertov – “shameless heart”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, July 15, 2020
\n\u201cI knew too well what had befallen me,
\nwhen one night . . . ”<\/p>\n

Denise Levertov died in her late 60s. \u00a0I miss her, a fiery advocate for global justice and a poet of the sacred mysteries of intimacy. In her later years, she published a wonderful book of poems she titled Evening Train<\/u>. \u00a0One of my favorite of her poems appears there about being startled by surprises of the heart in older age.<\/p>\n

If you are older, I bet you will breathe in her kindness laced with humor.
\nIf you are younger, she gives you good stuff to look forward to \u00a0– – –\u00a0 the graces of being surprisable.<\/p>\n

Best to read this poem out loud, \u00a0 with pauses, \u00a0 several times.<\/p>\n

Have a blest day,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cAncient Airs and Dances”<\/strong><\/p>\n

I<\/p>\n

I knew too well
\nwhat had befallen me
\nwhen, one night, I put my lips to his wineglass
\nafter he left\u2013an impulse I thought was locked away with a smile
\ninto memory\u2019s museum.
\nWhen he took me to visit friends and the sea, he lay
\nasleep in the next room\u2019s dark where the fire
\nrustled all night; and I, from a warm bed, sleepless,
\nwatched through the open door
\nthat glowing hearth, and heard,
\ndrumming the roof, the rain\u2019s
\ninsistent heartbeat.
\nGreyhaired, I have not grown wiser,
\nunless to perceive absurdity
\nis wisdom. A powerless wisdom.<\/p>\n

II<\/p>\n

Shameless heart! Did you not vow to learn
\nstillness from the heron
\nquiet from the mists of fall,
\nand from the mountain\u2013what was it?
\nPride? Remoteness?
\nYou have forgotten already!
\nAnd now you clamor again
\nlike an obstinate child demanding attention,
\ninterrupting study and contemplation.
\nYou try my patience. Bound as we are
\ntogether for life, must you now,
\nso late in the day, go bounding sideways,
\ntrying to drag me with you?<\/p>\n

Denise Levertov \u2013 Evening Train<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Denise Levertov
\n(b. 24 October 1923 \u00a0d. \u00a020 December 1997)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, July 15, 2020 \u201cI knew too well what had befallen me, when one night . . . ” Denise Levertov died in her late 60s. \u00a0I miss her, a fiery advocate for global justice and a poet of the … 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\/3578"}],"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=3578"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3580,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3578\/revisions\/3580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}