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ver$hy ver$h

ver$hy ver$h

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They're immaculate doodles, the Ashbery ones. I don't feel as though he has much to say. They're just these elegant little things which go in one ear and out the other. I can't picture him doing anything but being one of those American professors, teaching at some New York college.
 
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Benny Bunter said:
I suppose it's a bit like the kingfisher figure that runs through Hopkins, Eliot and Olson.
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Can you talk a bit about this figure? If not nw I can google for the poems and try to piece to together myself. But I'm very interested in the kingfisher, Joanna has a song about it, I watched the Fisher King film years ago
 
sus

sus

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Portrait in a Convex Mirror is beautiful, and the titular collection has some nice bits

I've tried to work my way through Flow Chart and got something profitable from the effort, there were some nice words & lines, but I'm not convinced anyone's ever finished that book, everything quoted in the Perloff review e.g. is from the first six pages
 
luka

luka

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sus said:
Can you talk a bit about this figure? If not nw I can google for the poems and try to piece to together myself. But I'm very interested in the kingfisher, Joanna has a song about it, I watched the Fisher King film years
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March 2025
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As Kingfishers Catch Fire

By Gerard Manley Hopkins

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As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves — goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying Whát I dó is me: for that I came.

I say móre: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: thát keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is —
Chríst — for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men's faces.
 
luka

luka

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www.poetryfoundation.org

The Kingfishers

1 What does not change / is the will to change He woke, fully clothed, in his bed. who cares for their feathers now?” His last words had been, “The pool is slime.” Suddenly everyone, ceasing their talk, sat in a row around him, watched they did not so much hear, or pay attention, they wondered,…
www.poetryfoundation.org www.poetryfoundation.org
 
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luka said:
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring
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Wow! The "stones ring" attaches to both roundy wells (round-shaped wells made by circled stones) and the stones dropped in them that ring out, and "ring" means something totally different in the two senses, but the unity in one word reinstates in the aural sense of "ringing" a sense of physical roundness, like the singing bowls of Tibet
 
sus

sus

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Kingfishers appear to "catch fire" because of how their feathers interact with light. Their vivid blue and turquoise colors are not produced by pigments but by structural coloration—specifically, microscopic layers in their feathers that scatter light. This effect, called Tyndall scattering or structural interference, means their blue hues shift and shimmer depending on the angle of the light, creating an almost electric or flame-like glow, especially in motion.

 
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Incredible imagine writing one single line that is so immortal and free

I was talking with a friend about how a poet only needs to write one perfect poem. The only Frank OHara anyone knows is Having A Coke With You but it's a pitchperfect midcentury popsong of a poem and everyone knows it by heart and it justifies his whole existence.

Imagine writing one perfect popsong that is immortal and free
 
Benny Bunter

Benny Bunter

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This explains it better than I ever could, worth a read - talks about Eliot and Olson too

Kingfisher Symbol for Hopkins and Later Poets

The kingfisher, as a symbol, represents opposites such as: Transformation, calm, multiplicity, unity, felicity, disturbance, revelation...For poets, the kingfisher magically embodies a joining of opposites, a preservation of variety, an embrace of challenge and change.
www.gerardmanleyhopkins.org
 
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Tian-tsui (Chinese traditional: 點翠, Chinese simplified: 点翠, pinyin: diǎncuì, "dotting with kingfishers") is a style of Chinese art featuring kingfisher feathers. For 2,000 years, the Chinese have been using the iridescent blue feathers of kingfisher birds as an inlay for fine art objects and adornment, from hairpins, headdresses, and fans to panels and screens. While Western art collectors have focused on other areas of Chinese art including porcelain, lacquer ware, sculpture, cloisonné, silk and paintings, kingfisher art is relatively unknown outside of China.
 
sus

sus

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Abstraction is the enemy of poetry and Hopkins did not need reminding of this: despite the essentially intellectual nature of his theme, there is not a single abstract noun in 'As Kingfishers ...'. Hopkins, in full energy, makes the experience present rather than talking about it; and it is good to be there.
 
sus

sus

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An excellent description of this bird comes from American composer John Mackey, who described the kingfisher, when discussing his musical piece “As Kingfishers Catch Fire,” as “birds with beautiful, brilliantly colored feathers that look in sunlight as if they are on fire.” He goes on to relate, “Kingfishers are extremely shy birds and are rarely seen, but when they are seen, they are undeniably beautiful.”
 
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