James Wright |
James Wright was born in Martin's Ferry, Ohio in 1927 and died in 1980. As well as being mentored by Theodore Roetke, Wright was an essential figure amongst the top American poets of his day, including Donald Hall, James Dickey, Robert Bly, and many others.
In 'Two Postures beside a Fire', we see Wright's respect and reverance for his father alongside his ambivalent feelings about the state of his birth, Ohio. His father's 'repose' is juxtaposed against the poet's own nervous twitching, physical evidence of the two men's inner states.
Interestingly enough, James Wright is also the father of this month's featured poet, Franz Wright. If you have the time, and access to Franz Wright's book Walking to Martha's Vineyard, you may want to compare 'Two Postures...' to Franz Wright's 'Fathers'. The differences are striking in the two men's feelings toward their fathers as well as how this affects each of them. Both poems are well worth the effort to ponder.
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Tonight I watch my father's hair,
As he sits dreaming near his stove.
Knowing my feather of despair,
He sent me an owl's plume for love,
Lest I not know, so I've come home.
Tonight, Ohio, where I once
Hounded and cursed my loneliness,
Shows me my father, who brokes stones,
Wrestled and mastered great machines,
And rests, shadowing his lovely face.
2.
Nobly his hands fold together in his repose.
He is proud of me, believing
I have done strong things among men and become a man
Of place among men of place in large cities.
I will not awaken him.
I have come home alone, without wife or child
To delight him. Awake, solitary and welcome,
I too sit near his stove, the lines
Of an ugly age scarring my face, and my hands
Twitch nervously about.
from: James Wright, Above the River: The Complete Poems.
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux; University Press of New England).
Paperback Price: $20.00.
In the UK, this book is published in conjunction with Bloodaxe
and costs 9.95 GBP.
For more information on the poet James Wright, check out the following websites: (Note: While we check the websites that we reccommend, we are not responsible for their content)
Poets.org from the American Academy of Poets
Modern American Poetry
Todd Copeland's website with many links and a variety of bibliographical material
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