[New-Poetry] Re: Hurricanes

[David Graham]

Derek Walcott's "Hurucan" is another.




========================================
David Graham
grahamd at ripon.edu

Home Page:
http://web.mac.com/drjazz

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On Sep 3, 2008, at 5:29 PM, Richard Wilsnack wrote:

> Halvard Johnson's "exercise" to...
>>>
>>> 9. Imagine the poem as a hurricane.
>>>
>
> ...got me to wondering about what poets have written about
> hurricanes, not just ordinary storms.
>
> One such poem sticks in my memory, rightly or wrongly.
> Perhaps others can offer better examples than this.
>
> Richard W. Wilsnack
> rwilsnac at medicine.nodak.edu
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> ------------------------
>
> Problems with Hurricanes
>
> A campesino looked at the air
> and told me
> with hurricanes it's not the wind
> or the noise or the water.
> I'll tell you he said.
> It's the mangoes, avocados,
> green plantains and bananas
> flying into town like projectiles.
>
> How would your family
> feel if they had to tell
> the generations that you
> got killed by a flying
> banana.
>
> Death by drowning has honor.
> If the wind picked you up
> and slammed you
> against a mountain boulder
> this would not carry shame.
> But
> to suffer a mango smashing
> your skull
> or a plantain hitting your
> temple at 70 miles per hour
> is the ultimate disgrace.
>
> The campesino takes off his hat ―
> as a sign of respect
> toward the fury of the wind
> and says
> Don't worry about the noise.
> Don't worry about the water.
> Don't worry about the wind.
> If you are going out
> beware of mangoes
> and all such beautiful
> sweet things.
>
> From Maraca: New and Selected Poems 1965-2000
> by Victor Hernández Cruz
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> -
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