Tragedy of the Leaves

You can hear Charles Bukowski read his poem "The Tragedy of the Leaves" today, the hump of the week, and maybe it will help you get over the hump of this particular cold, cold week. I found it via the Best American Poetry Blog, its "Hump Day Highlights," which led to PA (aka PoetsArtists), edited by Didi Menendez, and an interview by Grace Cavalieri with Linda Lee Bukowski, the poet's widow, conducted for PoetsArtists back when it was called Oranges & Sardines. What a roundabout journey! (By chance, I am also interviewed in the new PA, with 3 of the Claudel poems attached. As you know, I love chance.) I love the simplicity and quiet, funny sorrow of the Bukowski poem. I see the leaves. I hear the landlady.

The interview reveals a bit of the tragedy of the roots, Bukowski's sad childhood. Hence, my favorite turnip, by Jonathan Koch, who also painted the tangelo and its bright leaves. And if you need some more brightness, as I did this week, here is a review of Jannett Highfill's chapbook, A Constitution of Silence (Green Fuse Poetic Arts, 2013), in the EIL Blog, containing 2 of her subtle sonnets. "Scintillation" contains pictures of fantastic light installations by Lee Eunyeol. The world is full of wondrous things, and is lit from without and lit from within.