Anthology

One Time Ago



Time is something that shapes everything, including poetry. Time and poetry are intertwined and it can be seen in several different ways. For example some poems are about a relatively specific time, such as a past event or memory. A poet might also be describing an event. This can be seen in Sexton’s poem, “And One for My Dame.” A poet might include events in the future as well as in the past. Memories and past experiences are popular topics for poets and it is easy to understand why. These past occurrences shape our lives and that is why poets find them worth describing. Sometimes the influence of the past event can be very insignificant but if the poet can remember it, it must be worth writing about. Time also shapes poetry in that poets will often write about a particular time period. This would include many single events over an extended period of time. Writing about a particular time period is great way to recapture or express a writer’s feelings on past time periods. A good example of this is Koch’s “To My Twenties.” However, writers are not limited to past time periods. A prediction of future times also finds its way into poetry. Poems written about time itself are common as well. An example of this is “Time,” by Valerie Bloom. Another example of time being described can be seen in “The Wheels of Time,” by Jim Foulk. These poets interpret time in a very strict or literal way. This anthology includes poems that are about past times and events. Poems that describe a specific time period and poems about time itself.


The first two poems in this collection are about a specific time or event and they are Anne Sexton’s “And One for My Dame,” and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “England in 1819.” In these poems a specific time is being described. They are the poets’ description of a past event. In Shelley’s sonnet, “England in 1819,” the social condition of England is being described. This is done by giving a description of the ruler in lines 1 to 4. The poem goes on to describe the condition of the people living under the king’s rule at the point in time.


The second two poems are about a period of time that the writer experienced or is experiencing at the time. These include a poem by Kenneth Koch entitled “To My Twenties”. Followed by, “1990 special,” a poem by Charles Bukowski. “To My Twenties” is a poem about a past time period in the poets life. In this poem Koch is reflecting on his life when he was in his twenties. In lines 22 and 23 he is remembering when he felt like he had plenty of time when he was in his twenties. His enjoyment of the past can be seen in nearly every line. “1990 Special” is another poem that is about a time period in the poet’s life. It seems as if the poet feels he is reaching the end of his life. This is shown in lines 10-12.


The last four poems in this anthology interpret time in a more direct manner, describing time itself. These poems include, “Time,” by Valerie Bloom. In this poem time is described in a very metaphorical way. Another poem in this category is a poem by Jim Faulk entitled, “The Wheels of Time.” This poem describes the unavoidable effects of time. It describes the universal vulnerability of everything with respect to time. This is clear from lines 1-2. The poem goes on to describe an acceptance of the passing of time which can be seen in the last line, “the wheels of time, finally I’ll face it with glee.” The next poem is by Dorothy Fern Fowler entitled, “Who Knows Where Time Goes.” This poem is about the complexity in understanding time. Time is described as something that we do not have unlimited amounts of and how time passes people by at a rapid rate. The final poem in this anthology is by an unknown author that is entitled “To Realize…” This poem helps readers to become aware of time. The poem compares lengths of time and how they are relevant to an average person’s daily life. I think this last poem does a good job at putting time into perspective and demonstrates the clearest example of how time influences our lives which would include the lives of poets as well.


As seen, these poems are all related in the fact that they are shaped by the passing of time. Time plays an important role in poetry. It may help describe an event, or help an author look back on his or her life. It may even be the subject of your poem. A poet may not even be consciously writing about time but it may play an important role when describing an event. Some poems are influenced more than others depending on the poet or the subject. Time is sometimes just a detail in a poem; it may not hold any other significance other than a small detail. A poet may describe a past experience or a memory of the past. Time might just be a minor detail in this case, it may not be relevant to the subject that the poets it’s currently with. A poet may also reflect on a time period of his or her life. This may be a matter of months or maybe even years or decades. It may also include a specific stage in the poet’s life or maybe a trouble time that was experienced. Some even contemplate time itself and how we are all influenced by the passing of time. In this instance time is interpreted more literally. Time is looked at as a force that is inescapable and unavoidable. Some of these poems attempt to explain time while others only go into its presence and how it influences daily life.













And One For My Dame
By Anne Sexton
A born salesman, my father made all his dough by selling wool to Fieldcrest, Woolrich and Faribo.
A born talker, he could sell one hundred wet-down bales of that white stuff. He could clock the miles and the sales
and make it pay. At home each sentence he would utter had first pleased the buyer who'd paid him off in butter.
Each word had been tried over and over, at any rate, on the man who was sold by the man who filled my plate.
My father hovered over the Yorkshire pudding and the beef: a peddler, a hawker, a merchant and an Indian chief.
Roosevelt! Willkie! and war! How suddenly gauche I was with my old-maid heart and my funny teenage applause.
Each night at home my father was in love with maps while the radio fought its battles with Nazis and Japs.
Except when he hid in his bedroom on a three-day drunk, he typed out complex itineraries, packed his trunk,
his matched luggage and pocketed a confirmed reservation, his heart already pushing over the red routes of the nation.
I sit at my desk each night with no place to go, opening thee wrinkled maps of Milwaukee and Buffalo,
the whole U.S., its cemeteries, its arbitrary time zones, through routes like small veins, capitals like small stones.
He died on the road, his heart pushed from neck to back, his white hanky signaling from the window of the Cadillac.
My husband, as blue-eyed as a picture book, sells wool: boxes of card waste, laps and rovings he can pull
to the thread and say Leicester, Rambouillet, Merino, a half-blood, it's greasy and thick, yellow as old snow.
And when you drive off, my darling, Yes, sir! Yes, sir! It's one for my dame, your sample cases branded with my father's name,
your itinerary open, its tolls ticking and greedy, its highways built up like new loves, raw and speedy.

England In 1819
By Percy Bysshe Shelley

An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king,--
Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow
Through public scorn,--mud from a muddy spring,--
Rulers who neither see, nor feel, nor know,
But leech-like to their fainting country cling,
Till they drop, blind in blood, without a blow,--
A people starved and stabbed in the untilled field,--
An army, which liberticide and prey
Makes as a two-edged sword to all who wield,--
Golden and sanguine laws which tempt and slay;
Religion Christless, Godless--a book sealed;
A Senate,--Time's worst statute unrepealed,--
Are graves, from which a glorious Phantom may
Burst, to illumine our tempestous day.

1990 Special
By Charles Bukowski

year-worn
weary to the bone,dancing in the dark with the
dark,the Suicide Kid gone
gray.

ah, the swift summers
over and gone
forever!

is that death
stalking me
now?

no, it’s only my cat,
this
time.


To My Twenties
By Kenneth Koch

How lucky that I ran into you
When everything was possible
For my legs and arms, and with hope in my heart
And so happy to see any woman--
O woman! O my twentieth year!
Basking in you, you
Oasis from both growing and decay
Fantastic unheard of nine- or ten-year oasis
A palm tree, hey! And then another
And another--and water!
I'm still very impressed by you. Whither,
Midst falling decades, have you gone? Oh in what lucky fellow,
For the moment in any case, do you live now?
From my window I drop a nickel
By mistake. With
You I race down to get it
But I fund there on
The street instead, a good friend,
X---------- N---------, who says to me
Kenneth do you have a minute?
And I say yes! I am in my twenties!
I have plenty of time! In you I marry,
In you I first go to France; I make my best friends
In you, and a few enemies. I
Write a lot and am living all the time
And thinking about living. I loved to frequent you
After my teens and before my thirties.
You three together in a bar
I always preferred you because you were midmost
Most lustrous apparently strongest
Although now that I look back on you
What part have you played?
You never, ever, were stingy.
What you gave me you gave whole
But as for telling
Me how best to use it
You weren't a genius at that.
Twenties, my soul
Is yours for the asking
You know that, if you ever come back.


Time
By Valerie Bloom

Time’s a bird, which leaves its footprints
At the corners of your eyes,
Time’s a jockey, racing horses,
The sun and moon across the skies.
Time’s a thief, stealing your beauty,
Leaving you with tears and sighs,
But you waste time trying to catch him,
Time’s a bird and Time just flies.


The Wheels Of Time
By Jim Foulk

The wheels of time roll around,
it dosn't stop for anyone
the wheels of time, for me it's almost done.
The wheels of time rolls around,
changes me with age
the wheels of time for my life a new stage
The wheels of time roll around,
life has passed me by
the wheels of time make me want to cry.
The wheels of time roll around
so many changes they bring
the wheels of time, for me going faster than a train.
The wheels of time roll around
another day gone, another day went by,
the wheels of time, changes in my life, I'll apply.
The wheels of time roll around
changes I need to make,
the wheels of time, chances I have to take
The wheels of time roll around
closing in on me,
the wheels of time, finally I'll face it with glee.

Who Knows Where Time Goes
By Dorothy Fern Fowler

Time is something we don't understand,
It's gone with a hello and a shake of the hand.
Never enough time for those you hold dear
But always, time for sadness and tears.
Time, you can't se it at all
For it passes so quickly --- while you lean on a wall.
Who knows where time goes/
No time for the dreams you have for yourself
Nor time for reading all the books the shelf.
Not enough time to go drifting along
For one has to work eight hours long.
Who knows where time goes?
No time to laugh --- and just be alone,
No time at all for friend or foe.
Time is running out --- people all say,
Who knows where time goes --- each and every day!

To Realize…
By Unknown Author

To realize the value of one year:Ask a student who has failed a final exam.
To realize the value of one month:Ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.
To realize the value of one week:Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realize the value of one hour:Ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.
To realize the value of one minute:Ask a person who has missed the train, bus or plane.
To realize the value of one second:Ask a person who has survived an accident.
To realize the value of one millisecond:Ask the person who has won a silver medal in the Olympics.


Bibliography



Margaret, Furguson. The Nortan Anthology of Poetry.
New York: W, W, Norton & Company, 2005.

Margaret, Furguson. The Nortan Anthology of Poetry.
New York: W, W, Norton & Company, 2005.


Bukowski, Charles. "1990 Special". The Academy of American Poets. November 30 2007 .

Margaret, Furguson. The Nortan Anthology of Poetry.
New York: W, W, Norton & Company, 2005.

Bloom, Valerie. "Time". Poetry Archive. November 29 2007 .

Foulk, Jim. "The Wheels of Time by Jim Foulk". Poemhunter.com. November 29 2007 .

Fowler, Dorothy. "Who Knows Where Time Goes". www.poemhunter.com. November 29 2007 .

unknown, "To Realize...". Minerva WebWorks . November 29 2007 .