American poet Robert Bly
Walking on the Shore in Late August
I look out over the muddy lake.
All at once I see a fin rise, what alertness!
All my brain power pours toward that spot on the water.
How we long for a bit of consciousness to appear above
the water!
Now I notice what I have never noticed before,
Bending over graceful,
At the shoreline…
Mother take me deeper—
Take me on your fins down…
Robert Bly ( 1926 -) from Uncollected Poems in Like the New Moon, I Will Live My Life,
White Pine Press, 2015
The idea of the deep image and the power of the unconscious have been a key part of the poetics of Robert Bly for almost seventy years! I have written about Bly in previous posts (to read some of them click here, here and here) but as he approaches his ninetieth birthday in December I want to highlight him again through this small poem.
A new documentary film has been completed on Bly (for details click here) which I am looking forward to seeing! My dvd is on its way! And although Bly has slowed down a lot someone who saw him a few weeks ago told me: He’s creaky but still Robert.
Bly’s was the single influence that brought me back to poetry in my forties! I know through his crusty nature he has not endeared himself to “The Powers that Be” but his influence on poetry in the English-speaking world, I think, is beyond comparison. Is he worthy of the Nobel Prize for Literature. You bet!
If you haven’t read Bly lately please consider it. Take a ride down with him in his darker waters. Hang on but enjoy the ride!
I keep trying to swim in those dark waters:
Mother take me deeper—
Take me on your fins down…
2 Comments
Richard
I’m enjoying these short poems. Another lovely post.
Liz
So great to hear from you. Thank you!