WHEN first conquered man the night
And saw the dancing flame
The fire was as a god to him
Though Fire had no Name;
Primeval night withdrew and danced
Where Fire’s glory went
The shapes it made, the words of shade
The messages were sent;
Its claws of red, they may have said
Its freedoms made of flesh
Eyes of glass to see the moon
States of rude undress;
Was that the night we raised the chalk
And by the Fire’s glow
The Logos stirred, a sigil-word
Marked the sign for,
NO?
We sit again, and Fire is here
Though curs’d his ev’ry form
Men entranced by Luna’s glance
By sea and weather-warm;
Smoke and Light and Heat process
And offer gifts in turn
Earned by grit they have no more
Truth they cannot learn;
But each is danger, each a stranger
Kill save they are tamed
These Powers old, much manifold
Refusing to be Named;
Men ask all, forget the wall
Forget the hardship-woe
But those left strong in Right and Wrong
In white have written,
NO.
I leave no notes for interpretation for this Poem. It should be rather obvious that I have answered my own question or challenge put to Mark Yuray regarding his recent essay. Remember to pronounce the ‘h’ in ‘wh’!
One question put to the reader: Given that the Ivy League has decided that English Poetry is too trigger-happy, would it be of use, if, instead of simply rhyming at you once a month, I would do a review of our own, of these now cast-out ‘council of the mighty’ in word? Were they ever unjust to the poor man? Is that why they have fallen like princes?
We would start with major poets, you would challenge me, preferably written in blood, to write a poem in that poet’s style, and I would in turn present a favorite or important poem ‘culturally’ of theirs, along with answers to certain questions you might find helpful, such as “was this poet reactionary?” “what was their influence on our culture?” “who promoted their work and why?”
By request, we can skip certain poets like Maya Angelou who are obviously ‘important’ only because of the activity of various foundations and members of the Cathedral. We could also, thus, in turn explore ‘minor’ poets who were in fact, either known for other things or passed over due to ‘lack of message focus’ on the endless anarchic bloodbath known as ‘democratic revolution.’
I hope you’ve been enjoying our short fiction as much as we’ve enjoyed preparing and writing it! (If you have been messaging me on the Forum, I will get back to you ASAP — I have been quite busy.)
Thanks for the response! I wasn’t sure if this was written last week or in the 19th century before I reached the end. Your challenge sounds fine — can I challenge you to imitate Goethe?
Please don’t trigger me next time by using the word poet in the same sentence as Maya Angelou.
Goethe! Well, I’ve already unintentionally written a story that is based off of one of his own.
Tho’ Goethe is one of our siblings ethnically (those other Germanics, natch) I don’t recall any of his work being written IN English. (Am I mistaken?) Given that, you will have to use a little more of your blood and indicate the preferred Translation on the Notice of Challenge.
Seriously though, there are ways to indicate that Maya Angelou and poet should not be in the sentence that don’t involve putting them in the same sentence. TRIGGER WARNING
I don’t suppose Wallace Stevens is major?
I consider him major enough, yes. I have an informal list in mind, but am willing to amend it. Some samples:
– W.B. Yeats
– Rob Frost
– E. Dickinson
– J. Donne
– Estecee
– J. M. Hopkins
– C. S. Lewis
– G. K. Chesterton
– W. Stevens
– T. S. Eliot
– E. A. Poe
– E. Pound
I have a shit-list, it’s rather short at the moment
– W. Whitman
– That Keats Guy
– Milton (on probation)
– W. Carlos Williams
My criteria are that the poems must be in public domain or reproducible here without cost… so most really modern poets are probably completely out (if you can even find their poems in text!) In particular I’m disappointed regarding Jack Spicer. There are some others like Jorge Luis Borges who wrote some English-language poetry although he is Argentine. For these I’m not sure.
Secondarily, I still have to prioritize. I would like to focus on 1. Poets that are very reactionary, and 2. Poets who are obviously only notable at all because famous liberals/ leftists liked their stuff and put money into them.
The first is to reconnect with our traditions as English-speakers and people of English descent, and the second is to blow the lid on theories of culture-driven degeneracy.
Also I think both Moldy and I like W. Stevens – so there’s also that. Withal it delights me that Orwell (I think it was Orwell?) despised Chesterton’s Lepanto, so we’ll have to have some fun with that. Orwell, thou Stump-Orator!
Blake, Tennyson and Byron are criminally missing from that list…
Not to mention Kipling!
Are George Herbert or Gerard Manley Hopkins too minor for this sort of thing? I’d love to see you try your hand (er, pen?) at sprung rhythm or something like Herbert’s shapes.
My dad wrote a whole bunch of sprung-rhythm poetry when he was a young man. I do not remember if he gave me the volumes. It’s quite good!
Hopkins is an interesting character for a number of reasons, and worth looking at.
I hadn’t heard of George Herbert, but he’s one of the old poets, seems. I’d probably also like to alternate between modern (after about 1820 or so) and old (before that) poets. My list of older English-language poets is a little sparse.
Knowing less than nothing about poetry, I am not sure if they count as major, but I might recommend one or two of the Vanderbilt Fugitives as poets of a rightist bent: John Crowe Ransom and Allen Tate. I believe the former is more famous though the latter was further Right, or at least retained his rightist views longer. Both knew Eliot fairly well. Just throwing it out there.
I’ll be sure to check them out. I’m very interested in at least analyzing some of the ‘modern’ style poets, but am hoping to find some that aren’t just libertine homosexuals.