In honor of National Poetry Month, I am sharing exquisite poems by talented poets each Wednesday. I present "Head, Heart" by Lydia Davis, short story writer, novelist, and translator. She captures a profound state of human existence using what could be Muppets. This short, mind-bogglingly concise poem encapsulates the push and the pull of it all...and you know what I mean.
Head, Heart
by Lydia Davis
Heart weeps.
Head tries to help heart.
Head tells heart how it is, again:
You will lose the ones you love. They will all go. But even the earth will go, someday.
Heart feels better, then.
But the words of head do not remain long in the ears of heart.
Heart is so new to this.
I want them back, says heart.
Head is all heart has.
Help, head. Help heart.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lydia_Davis
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2 comments:
I love this one so much I paid a calligraphy artist to write it out for me and it's on my wall, so beautiful and painful! Thank you for bringing up things that I love and introducing things I hadn't seen before this month.
Hi tuckova,
This poem is a perfect thing to hang on one's wall and see everyday. It encapsulates everything.
Thanks for reading my blog for so long and engaging with what I present. Did you ever see the documentary about the New York Times street fashion photographer Bill Cunningham? It was every well-dressed New Yorker's hope to be photographed by him at some point in their lives, and in the film, Anna Wintour says, "We all get dressed for Bill." At this point, since you seem to be the only one who consistently interacts with me, I think I am posting things for tuckova...
;-)
Best,
JEF
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