I read this quote by him:"...have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer."
Rilke's work is really hitting the spot right now. This poem's title led me to anticipate some cheese, but I really connected with it by the third stanza in a way I hadn't expected to.
Girl in Love
That's my window. This minute
So gently did I alight
From sleep--was still floating on it.
Where has my life its limit
And where begins the night?
I could fancy all things around me
Were nothing but I as yet;
Like a crystal's depth, profoundly
mute, translucent, unlit.
I have space to spare inside me
For the stars, too: so full of room
Feels my heart; so lightly
Would it let go of him, whom
For all I know I have started
To love, it may be to hold.
Strange, as if never charted,
Stares my fortune untold.
Why is it I am bedded
Beneath this infinitude,
Fragrant like a meadow
Hither and thither moved,
Calling out, yet fearing
Someone might hear the cry
Destined to disappearing
Within another I.
I'm sure we'll be hearing more from Herr Rilke in the near future. Night!
-Amelia
Amelia SMASH!!! This is awesome, I am so happy that you too are a fan of Herr Rilke (as you have brilliantly knighted him). I was actually going to post about him and the poetry slam I was attending in Boston as things I've been super into lately! If you're getting into poetry you definitely should check out some slams in your area--theres a lot of mixed bag talent out there, and a lot of it intersects with darling hip-hop. Tres cool. If you havn't already, you should totally check out HBO's Def Poetry. Also, Baraka Noel and Sam Sax, recent obie grads have been traveling around the country doing performances that mix hip-hop, spoken word, and interactive theater.
ReplyDeleteAnd lastly, for the win, no for the Sweden, Fever Ray is one fly bitch.
dude, i remember being in a poetry class with sam sax and really liking both his poetic insights and his work. good call. thanks for the suggestions, and for reading!
ReplyDeletemy missing you is only surpassed by my jealousy that you live in a place where there are co-ops and poetry slams.