"Touch Me" by Stanley Kunitz (poetry reading)

He won a Pulitzer Prize, became poet laureate and he lived to be 100 years old.

He was about 90 years old when he wrote this poem: it's worth hearing what a man who has lived so long has to tell you about how it feels. The first line is a quotation from one of his earlier poems. Here's more about Stanley Kunitz:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Kunitz

And a balanced review at the Poetry Foundation
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/stanley-kunitz

These days old age is no longer revered for its wisdom and experience. Youth and pulchritude are now seen to be paramount and to be retained at all costs. The young have always thought the old to be foolish and ignorant,. But, how does that work exactly? Are you going to learn nothing and get no wiser in the fifty years you have left?

The opinions of youth now prevail - which they could not do, if the old had not created a world for them to live in and won for them the freedom to say whatever they please.

So, before making up your mind, you should read the harsh review of this poem and the rewrite by Dan Schneider:
http://www.cosmoetica.com/TOP71-DES68.htm

Then if you tell me your opinion, I'll tell you mine.

I found the pictures of Stanley in his garden here:
http://ravenessences.wordpress.com/2010/03/27/stanley-kunitz-on-gardening/

Summer is late, my heart.
Words plucked out of the air
some forty years ago
when I was wild with love
and torn almost in two
scatter like leaves this night
of whistling wind and rain.
It is my heart that's late,
it is my song that's flown.
Outdoors all afternoon
under a gunmetal sky
staking my garden down,
I kneeled to the crickets trilling
underfoot as if about
to burst from their crusty shells;
and like a child again
marveled to hear so clear
and brave a music pour
from such a small machine.
What makes the engine go?
Desire, desire, desire.
The longing for the dance
stirs in the buried life.
One season only,
and it's done.
So let the battered old willow
thrash against the windowpanes
and the house timbers creak.
Darling, do you remember
the man you married?
Touch me,
remind me who I am.

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[unarex1]

This poem sucks. That essay by Dan Schneider begins with the line: "Finally a Poet Laureate that it could actually be argued that deserved the nod." That is hardly a "harsh" review. Really bad poem.

[SpokenVerse]

@unarex1 That's not literary criticism. You have to say why it's bad.  Otherwise your reaction might be only your own distemper.

[silentium1972]

Спасибо

[SpokenVerse]

@silentium1972 That means "Thanks" - translated by Babelfish

[palneve]

Wonderful poem, thank you. Also thanks for the technical tips-I'll try them.

[dwreid55]

I found this to be very touching and profound. It's difficult for youth to appreciate that the heart remains a child long after the body has become old and frail.

[jenniferashley99]

this poem is beautiful.

[maydragon1]

Enjoyed this. For me this poem works - inviting the listener into the experience...

[blazehok]

@SpokenVerse I can't agree with Schneider that economy in a poem is always a better idea, nor can I agree that the cliche' is to be avoided at all costs. My own advancing age influences my opinion of this poem, but I find it wonderfully visual and poignant. There has been a great revolution in poetry over the years, and most young people would find the lyrical poems written years ago abhorrent. Poetry is art, and criticism of any art widely varies with the individual.

[unarex1]

@liz1060 If critique were easy, why are so many lousy at it? And the review begins with: "Finally a Poet Laureate that it could actually be argued that deserved the nod." That is hardly "harsh." It actually does a great job of deconstructing Kunitz's decline as a writer and thinker. Read Schneider's poems--writing like THAT is what's hard, and I don't mean boner in the pants.

[rappamarfil]

Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do.

- Bertrand Russell

Dan Schneider needs to think his way past 100 to overthink himself beyond the 100 years of thoughtfulness Mr. Kunitz ' s work gestated . Don ' t you think ?

[rappamarfil]

We accumulate our opinions at an age when our understanding is at its weakest.

- Georg C. Lichtenberg