A wonderful tribute to a great poet! Yes, ". . .a real somebody. . ." --- and I love the line "In his own out of it right. .." And the poem works musically, as do Knott's poems.
Ah, who could believe Knott wouldn't be welcomed and honored by the community of poets? Although some of the somebodies recognized and praised Knott, a marvelous poet who also has one of those great names for a poet (like Wordsworth, Pound, Moore, Bishop, Bolton, and Oppen).
And Knott would've appreciated the somewhat knotty word "enconium," he who loved words and wrote a poem with wordplay about his own name:
KNOT (HENDECASYLLABICS)
After you've sewn it, bite the thread off my grave -- Please leave no loose seam of me to wave above The bones unknitting, the flesh unweaving love.
Ah, yes--Wild Bill was a compleat original when compared to many of his contemporaries but in all fairness--as you point out--not all of them looked askance at his poetry. I chose to overlook that fact while writing this particular poem because I thought it would weaken the message I wanted to get across; the poem you quote in its entirety is one I don't recall ever having read but I may be wrong. Thank you for sending it along--33 syllables of pure knotty work.
Thanks for the follow-through and the good words, John. BTW, you might be interested in hearing that both this tribute to Knott and my latest poem "Song Caught In Flight" were both jettisoned by FB as spam! Hahaha!
A wonderful tribute to a great poet! Yes, ". . .a real somebody. . ." --- and I love the line "In his own out of it right. .." And the poem works musically, as do Knott's poems.
ReplyDeleteAh, who could believe Knott wouldn't be welcomed and honored by the community of poets? Although some of the somebodies recognized and praised Knott, a marvelous poet who also has one of those great names for a poet (like Wordsworth, Pound, Moore, Bishop, Bolton, and Oppen).
And Knott would've appreciated the somewhat knotty word "enconium," he who loved words and wrote a poem with wordplay about his own name:
KNOT (HENDECASYLLABICS)
After you've sewn it, bite the thread off my grave --
Please leave no loose seam of me to wave above
The bones unknitting, the flesh unweaving love.
Ah, yes--Wild Bill was a compleat original when compared to many of his contemporaries but in all fairness--as you point out--not all of them looked askance at his poetry. I chose to overlook that fact while writing this particular poem because I thought it would weaken the message I wanted to get across; the poem you quote in its entirety is one I don't recall ever having read but I may be wrong. Thank you for sending it along--33 syllables of pure knotty work.
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ReplyDeleteThe poem of Knott's I quoted is in his book I AM FLYING INTO MYSELF: SELECTED POEMS 1960 - 2014.
ReplyDeleteKnott, like you, is one of those poets who is able to write fantastic short poems as well as superb longer ones.
Thanks for the follow-through and the good words, John. BTW, you might be interested in hearing that both this tribute to Knott and my latest poem "Song Caught In Flight" were both jettisoned by FB as spam! Hahaha!
ReplyDelete