In praise of coldness - Jane Hirshfield

IN PRAISE OF COLDNESS

If you wish to move your reader,
Chehkov wrote, you must write more coldly.

Herakleitos recommended, A dry soul is best.

And so at the center of many great works
is found a preserving dispassion,
like the vanishing point in a quattrocento perspective,
or the tiny packets of dessicant enclosed
in a box of new shoes or seeds.

But still the vanishing point
is not the painting,
the silica is not the blossoming plant.

Chekhov, dying, read the timetables of trains.
To what more earthly thing could he have been faithful?
Scent of rocking distances,
smoke of blue trees out the window,
hampers of bread, pickled cabbage, boiled meat.

Scent of the knowable journey.

Neither a person entirely broken
nor one entirely whole can speak.

In sorrow, pretend to be fearless. In happiness, tremble.

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• eddusfledermaus
• jane hirshfield

[yaffle]

I cannot speak.

[eddusfledermaus]

Gosh! <3

[owlphanumeric]

i <3 eddus black and white

[eddusfledermaus]

I <3 ewe!

[eddusfledermaus]

I'm winning! :D

[ournationalspace]

actually, I'm still thinking about the poem, so ...

1 eddusfledermaus

0 ournationalspace

[ournationalspace]

thanks for THAT pickmeup - duh ;-) 5 stars for the performance, pal :-)

[eddusfledermaus]

Definitely read and write more! <3

[RhymesWithAwesome]

I went to a poetry reading tonight, and got home and saw this in my sub box. I think the universe is telling me to write poetry. Or read more of it.

:)

[TheBrokenGentleman]

I have ESP... Hehe...