Gerald Stern
 

Gerald Stern has died

https://www.npr.org/2022/10/30/11326...oet-dies-at-97

701 views + 0 comments = reassuring evidence that I'm not the only one here who was ignorant of this poet who was widely famous elsewhere.

Thanks for broadening my horizons a bit, John.

I'm a little surprised that you hadn't heard of him, Julie. (And I don't think 701 hits means that much, generally.) He is very well known, though perhaps not in our aquarium. I admit that I haven't read him in years, but I remember liking some of his stuff quite a bit, and he gave one of the best readings I've ever attended. Memorable. He was so proud that he had never once eaten a McDonald's hamburger. He had a lot of energy and everyone's full attention. And a great sense of humor, which is so important, in my book. My fuzzy memory doesn't do him justice. I'll revisit him.

Thanks, James. I sincerely appreciate the education.

Not a big deal, Julie. You seem braced for a solid tisk tisk. I mean, like a mean, serious tisk tisk. Waterboarding, perhaps, but with deeper breaths allowed in between. But we're poets, not monsters. Most of us.

Hi James. Are you reading something into Julie's posts that perhaps isn't there? I read them as straightforwardly thankful. And perhaps asking other forum members whether they were in the same state of ignorance as she, re Gerald Stern. I didn't hear any tsk-tsking. But then I am rather deaf.

:)

Joe

Hmm, perhaps, Joe. But so what? I'm just being open. Julie I know is quite capable of addressing that.

Also, Joe, this is a kind of a banter kind of thing. Maybe it's not shared, but I honestly don't care if Julie has heard of Stern, really I don't. I was just poking around for a little fun. So sue me. And is also part of the reason why a thread can have 701 views and no comments.

All squabbles aside he was a gifted poet. He was a non-met poet who was well knowledgeable of what made a good poem. He wrote metrical poetry early in his career and moved on from there. Here is a tiny poem from twenty or so years ago:
***

BLUE LIKE THAT

She was a darling with her roses, though what I
like is lavender for I can dry it and
nothing is blue like that, so here I am,
in my arms a bouquet of tragic lavender,
the whole history of Southern France against my
chest, the fields stretching out, the armies
killing each other, horses falling, Frenchmen
dying by the thousands, though none for love.

***

I love the way he slams F. Scott Fitzgerald's stupid and almost evil in its blindness comment when he called the Battle of the Somme and Verdun and the other 1916 battles the "love battles." He is shoving that down Fitzgerald's besotted throat without drawing any attention to it. I guess he isn't for everyone but his clean simplicity is certainly for me.

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I too saw this and liked it (in the sense that it gave me a closer look at a poet I know very little about) but didn't respond. —Not an uncommon thing for me (though it cuts both ways). Thanks for bringing him back to attention.


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