Only a handful of great sonnets have been written by members of my generation, and many of us regard this poem by Dick Davis as the best we have to show.

Baucis and Philemon

Life lies to hand in hoe, spade, pruning knife,
Plain wooden furniture and wattle walls,
In those unspoken words, "my husband," "wife,"
In one another's flesh which still recalls

Beneath the map of age their savored youth.
It is an ambience in which they move
Having no need to grasp or grub for truth;
It is the still persistence of their love.

That one should die before the other's death
And drain the world of meaning is their fear:
Their hope, to draw together their last breath
And leave the sunlight on a common bier.

Life is the meaning and the bread they share;
Because they need no Gods, the Gods are there.

Their hope, to draw together their last breath

Here's an example of a very effective inversion (or apparent inversion) -- putting 'together' after 'draw' rather than after 'breath' would be bad if it merely secured the rhyme, but it also suggests that they draw together *with* their last breath -- one of the features I admire most in this.
Do I hear an echo of Heraclitus in the last line?
Thanks for posting this, Tim.

Lovely riff on Ovid. Deceptively simple and spare. As Ov. himself says, it's an art to conceal art.

What a magnificent poem! Dick Davis has been mentioned to me, but I haven't secured any of his books yet. I'll have to stop dallying!

Caleb, How glad I am to see your posting! It is I who have belabored you on Dick Davis. As you can see, the Poemtree is a bare, ruined choir without him. See if you can find A Kind of Love (Arkansas) or Devices and Desires (the Brit version) in New York. If not, I'll lend you a copy. Many of us think that Dick is the best formal poet of our generation. Although he teaches Persian at Ohio State and has resided in the US for nearly twenty years, few American have heard of him.

Actually, I was in touch with Davis a while back and asked him to send me some of his books. He wasn't sure that he had any spare copies, and I never received any. Being chronically poor, I rely on donations of books rather than purchasing them.

However, I may have a full-time job soon, and I'll have the money to purchase his books. I'll definitely get him on the site one way or another. Incidentally, Rhina has mentioned him to me several times.

Caleb

Dear B, The problem with posting anything contemporary on this board is that it's greeted with a gigantic yawn, but here's the best sonnet we under-60's have written, and I shall call to the fore as well Derek Mahon's poem. Then we'll move on. To Steele, Gwynn, Stallings, etc.

Please do move on.

This poem is particularly lovely.

there's not a lot on the Net on this guy, but i think i'll be keeping a lookout at the bookstores.

Dick is also a fantastic translator from the Persian. He has a couple of books of translation out from Penguin.

I highly recommend his volume of selected, <u>A Kind of Love</u> from University of Arkansas Press.

Maybe he'll do a guest stint on Ask the Lariat?