"the universal language, translatable"
Atwood, Pastan, Dickinson, Szlengel, Forché
Margaret Atwood:
Linda Pastan:
Emily Dickinson:
The Beggar at the / Door for Fame / Were easily supplied / But Bread is that / Diviner thing
The Sharpener is a reader-supported newsletter. If you get value from these newsletters and want to support my work I encourage you to take out a paid subscription.
Władysław Szlengel (tr. from Polish by Samuel Kassow):
Carolyn Forché:
About Sean Singer
Sean Singer Editorial Services
Subscribe to The Sharpener
The paid-subscriber version of The Sharpener includes weekly installments of craft pieces, approaches to writing problems, topics in contemporary publishing for writers, and biographical features on poets I consider important.
I love the last stanza of Linda Patson's "Bread," especially "fizz / its blind energy--proofing." I loved the whole poem, really. I love to make bread and this part came across as spiritual because of the chemical reactions in the ingredients.
Bread makes for such a strong symbol.