I read this this morning with my son over our breakfast of Farmer John breakfast links (probably made 3 miles down the road in Vernon); eggs with lots of garlic; frozen waffles a la mode (I didn't have syrup so I decided vanilla ice cream would substitute); and Kirin milk tea (from Mitsua market down the road in Little Tokyo). He was telling me how upon closer examination, Robert Frost's poetry has some "dark" aspects (they're doing Frost in the 7th grade). He must have seen me roll my eyes (I'm not a fan of Frost) and he asked, if many poets focus on "dark" subjects and who did it better.
After some Nan Cohen and my homie, Anthony Seidman, I mentioned Ritsos as a master craftsman and read the following to himNight. Only one look. A noiseless bullet.
The metallic shield of loneliness is pierced.
That roundness shattered.
And pride on its knees.
Beloved night. My beloved wound -- he said.
The road, the sky, the stars -- exist
in order to sink again. Only one look.
Outside of loneliness lurks the great danger
of loneliness -- beloved danger:
to rival that other person and with justice on your side,
while the whole injustice of it is that justice also belongs to that other.
(1955-1956)
We spent about 30 minutes talking about it...he immediately loved the oxymoron of "pride on its knees" and really liked how, in his mind, loneliness exists on both sides of the shield. I had a great time talking about the last line and how, to me, it's important to remember that what we think is unjust, might be seen as justice by the proverbial other and vice-versa. It was a great way to start the day...now, if I can pollute his mind with a Harold and Kumar movie, I'll consider my job as a straight single father of color (ssfoc) done!
