the ache
john mayer is the ache of new love.
tom waits (closing time) is the ache of life.
alexander calder is the ache of delicate balance.
84 charing cross road (a. bancroft & a. hopkins) is the ache of loss.
voices of light (einhorn) is the ache of transcendence.
mark strand, li-young lee, anne michaels put more and better words to the ache. (links are my catacombs)
and there is this poem, perpetually re-discovered.
The Hardness Scale
- Joyce Peseroff
Diamonds are forever so I gave you quartz
which is # 7 on the hardness scale
and it's hard enough to get to know anybody these days
if only to scratch the surface
and quartz will scratch six other mineral surfaces:
It will scratch glass
it will scratch gold
it will even
scratch you eyes out one morning - you can't be
too careful.
Diamonds are industrial so I bought
a ring of topaz
which is #8 on the hardness scale.
I wear it on my right hand, the way it was
supposed to be, right? No tears and fewer regrets
for reasons smooth and clear as glass. Topaz will scratch glass,
it will scratch your quartz,
and all your radio crystals. You'll have to be silent
the rest of your days
not to mention your nights. Not to mention
the night you ran away very drunk very
very drunk and you tried to cross the border
but couldn't make it across the lake.
Stirring up geysers with the oars you drove the red canoe
in circles, tried to pole it but
your left hand didn't know
what the right hand was doing.
You fell asleep
and let everyone know it when you woke up.
In a gin-soaked morning (hair of the dog) you went
hunting for geese,
shot three lake trout in violation fo the game laws,
told me to clean them and that
my eyes were bright as sapphires
which is # 9 on the hardness scale.
A sapphire will cut a pearl
it will cut stainless steel
it will cut vinyl and mylar and will probably
cut a record this fall
to be released on an obscure label known only to aficionados.
I will buy a copy.
I may buy you a copy
depending on how your tastes have changed.
I will by copies for my friends
we'll get a new needle,
a diamond needle,
which is # 10 on the hardness scale
and will cut anything.
It will cut wood and mortar,
plaster and iron,
it will cut the sapphires in my eyes and I will bleed
blind as 4 A.M. in the subways when even degenerates
are dreaming, blind as the time
you shot up the room with a new hunting rifle
blind drunk
as you were.
You were #11 on the hardness scale
later that night
apologetic as
you worked your way up
slowly from the knees
and you worked your way down
from the open-throated blouse.
Diamonds are forever so I give you softer things.
Comments
dammit woman, has all that lernin tooken all the angst that is good wit da world outta you?
but really. don't give those kids the shaft.
there's plenty of fodder to illustrate ache, but make them work harder than that. strand, lee, michaels, peseroff weren't the assigned reading. but i'm pretty sure the assigned reading helped with the rest. if you don't want to do it, at least rent voices and visions season 1 and make them watch that. :)
Posted by: rosebaby | August 4, 2004 01:00 AM
I think one salient difference between us is that you ache and I just bake.
You think I'm just high on the fumes emanating from my rhyming dictionary, but no: As I sit here working on my "Introduction to Literary Interpretation" syllabus, I'm painfully aware of how my approach and appreciation of poetry is likely to stunt my students forever and ever.
Posted by: meg | August 4, 2004 10:27 AM