The latest entry in my series of new favorite poets is Eamon Grennan. The below work (from American Life in Poetry: Column 410) achieves something that I truly love in poetry (and strive to achieve in my own work); it personifies the natural world, bringing nature a little bit closer to us:
“Up Against It“
It’s the way they cannot understand the window
they buzz and buzz against, the bees that take
a wrong turn at my door and end up thus
in a drift at first of almost idle curiosity,
cruising the room until they find themselves
smack up against it and they cannot fathom how
the air has hardened and the world they know
with their eyes keeps out of reach as, stuck there
with all they want just in front of them, they must
fling their bodies against the one unalterable law
of things—this fact of glass—and can only go on
making the sound that tethers their electric
fury to what’s impossible, feeling the sting in it.
It contains language that is precise and scientific yet is lyric and beautiful at the same time…Enjoy!
The full article can be found here Up Against It by Eamon Grennan : American Life in Poetry.
;oD
Jamy
What a great poem. It’s free verse that just speaks. Wonderful. I love how some poets can take an everyday occurrence (like bees hitting a window in this case) and just make it sing.
Very beautiful and sad. I like the electric fury description for a bee, especially when showing nature and civilization like this.
I am glad you enjoyed Sheila! I had a similar reaction to the overall tone of the piece…:-D
It is beautiful!
x,
Becca
It IS, isn’t it?? I am so glad you enjoyed it!