[Tim Murphy]

Water Bearer

Each dawn before the sun devoured the shade
and seared the arid land, a potter strode
down to the well along a dusty road
to fill a well-used water jar he’d made.

As he returned one day a stranger said,
“Your jar is fractured. Anyone can see
you waste your time and labour fruitlessly.
The water spills along the track you tread.”

The potter answered, “Though it leaks, it still
retains enough for me and I would not,
for all its flaws, discard my battered pot.
It has a special purpose to fulfil.”

Where he had passed a radiant display
of flowers danced to greet the breaking day.

[Roger Slater]

This may be as good a place as any to mention that my copy of David's book finally arrived the other day and is filled with poems as strong as this one, yet they make an even better impresson printed out so nicely on paper pages in a book you can hold in your hand. It's handsomely produced, as well, and is an essential purchase for anyone interested enough in formal poetry to be here on Erato reading these words.

Americans, I think you need to go to the UK Amazon site. It might take a few weeks, but it's easy enough to place an order and worth waiting for.

[Tim Murphy]

It may have been harder to pick a poem of David's than any other's. But I wanted poems which would particularly please our great guest, and if you read Wilbur's "April 5, 1974," you'll see why I chose this one.

[Rhina P. Espaillat]

I concur heartily, and have been telling half the planet to buy a copy of "Words to Say."

[Don Kimball]

It's a lovely spiritual poem - both for its form and what it says.

Weeks ago, during a Pow Wow meeting, Rhina showed me David Anthony's new book and said, "You must buy this book -it's one I know you'll like." I purchased it from AbleMuse; it didn't take that long to arrive. And man was she right! I immediately read it from cover to cover ... and now going back through it more slowly to savor each poem. I heartily agree with Roger - it IS both handsomely put together and a welcomed collection of well-made poems in a wide variety of forms - including a couple triolets (as Rhina knows, one of my favorite forms!), a couple villanelles, a Tanka, ballad, Rondeau and a gorgeous sampling of sonnets, in English, Petrarchan and Nonce forms. I love this little book - for it speaks to me, the way Frost, Robinson, Hardy and Housman do. It, indeed, has 'words to say'...

[Alex Pepple]

Originally posted by Roger Slater:
...
Americans, I think you need to go to the UK Amazon site. It might take a few weeks, but it's easy enough to place an order and worth waiting for.

I agree with everything you've said about David's book, and I'll add that it's quicker and cheaper in North America to order it from the Able Muse bookstore here .

Cheers,
...Alex

[Richard Wilbur]

Alan Sullivan here in Key West, taking dictation in the Wilbur's living room on David Anthony's poem.

RW observes:

Mr Anthony who wrote the poem, is at ease with sonnet form, and handles it easily in a somewhat offhand way.

The flavor of the poem is not realistic, I should say. It seems consistently to have the flavor of a fable, and so one doesn't look in it for a strict likelihood of events or a strictly colloquial exchange between the potter and the stranger. I don't think that in the real world the stranger would say the water spills along the track you tread, however in the world of the fable, that works pretty well.

One of the best things about the poem is the way the poet establishes very well in the first four lines that this is a dry climate. The only line that troubles me is the twelfth. I think I have a strong aversion to the word "special," and perhaps that's my trouble with the line, but the line raises the question "is the potter aware that he is watering flowers?" or when he speaks of "special" purpose does he mean that he simply has special needs as a potter?

I kept thinking of possible words to replace "special," words like a "vital" purpose or a "double" purpose. It all depends on whether the potter is intended to be aware of watering flowers.

RPW

[R. S. Gwynn]

"Double" would be a nice change here, since parables also have a double purpose. It would also set up "fulfil" nicely, a word which in the context of this poem is wonderfully resonant.

I'm buying the book.

[David Anthony]

Thank you, everybody, for your kind and thoughtful comments on this simple poem.
Dr Wilbur, your comments mean a lot to me, and I shall treasure them. "Special", yes, I see the problem. "Another purpose", perhaps; or double purpose; yes, double purpose. In future I can say offhandedly that Water Bearer incorporates the suggestions of R Wilbur and RS Gwynn!
Prof Gwynn, thanks so much for your observation on the parable.
(I've been reading your brilliant, moving "Body Bags" sonnets, by the way, and have posted them on the "Mastery" board; I hope you have no objection.)
Very best wishes,
David



[This message has been edited by David Anthony (edited February 08, 2003).]