Colin McEnroe Show: Galway Kinnell

I notice this most often in connection with movies.

 

People who had not bought or read a book of poetry since college watched "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and heard the Auden poem that begins:

 

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,

Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,

Silence the pianos and with muffled drum

Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. 

 

And ends: 

 

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;

Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;

Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.

For nothing now can ever come to any good.

 

And suddenly, that poem was for sale next to cash registers at book stores. What was that thing? People wanted it. Weirdly, they wanted only that poem. It didn't occur to them that there may be several thousand other poems that  would also speak powerfully to them. 

 

Leave your comments below, e-mail colin@wnpr.org or Tweet us @wnprcolin.