Two years ago, pt 2: On Dürer Darling

I'm looking back at some writing I did two years ago.  For the full explanation, see yesterday's blog.

I wrote this poem the second day we were gone.  A friend of mine from college, Steph, was working on her portfolio for her master's in creative writing and had sent me a section of her poetry for feedback.  It was inspiring to spend some time with her work, particularly one of her poems, called "Dürer Darling". When I started free-writing that morning, I reflected not so much on the poem itself, but on the experience of reading it.

On "Dürer Darling"

1/4/07

My friend Steph writes poems like she knows how to do it.

They have that sense of order and structure,

just barely escaping my unstudied comprehension.

I understand some of her metaphors

and am sent Googling for others,

careening towards some sort of new illumination.

Ah, Dürer was a painter! Reread,

understand a little more

feel that small spark of something to live for,

to grasp even more of the almost knowable,

to study paintings and poems when my heart

isn’t beating so fast

(the doctor said my blood pressure was elevated),

when I’m not trying to make decisions

with so much up in the air.

Might a poem tell me whether my marriage will last?

Can a painting tell me anything about my career path?

The question is really one for God.

Can You? Will You? Are You?

My friend Steph writes poems like she knows how to do it.

They have that sense of order and structure,

just barely escaping my unstudied comprehension,

that shows me how my life might be lived.