I entered without words: Poems 9780691238975

Table of contents :
Contents
Note to Readers
the mother tongue licked me into being
that mare sometimes appeared
l’eau se fait calme quelquefois
now silent becomes listen
have I attended the birds
la montagne reflète la blessure
swallows light in the open
what kind of quest is this
I like having nothing
guest bed
on this green live languages graze
morning in a fog
I still believe in the dark work of idleness
call it harvest
this heart of summer gleams
who is the girl I push so high
qui est la fille que je pousse si haut
messy eater
our young register damage in radiant flesh
je quitte la maison d’être en plein vent du ciel
unhinged I left the house to wind
in my sickness the sky kept spinning
what it means to be reduced
space is not matter
the poor hide what they can
who cooks for you awwwlll
ribs were the first rafters
your hand opens to wave
dark was the night cold was the ground
the stone vault singing
la chapelle en pierre chantant
that light out of darkness may rise
over your cities the grasses will grow
an artist’s best friend is time boredom sway
is art the idling silence
à l’art aigu de roche et ange
merci pour ces très belles ratures
thank you for your very beautiful cross-outs
why everything beautiful hurts
pourquoi toutes les belles choses piquent
lost in lit screens the readers with their books
look back at me my love belong here
last goose
dernière oie
a deficiency hollows places
out of nowhere snow
paper white
a stiff wind makes them more beautiful
la mort n’a pas arasé l’espérance de la neige
death has not eroded hope of snow
I seek the cold mountain spring
je cherche le motif glacé
to knock with gentle barbarism
trouver la porte frapper entrer
des herbes folles
wild grasses
the white flame sank offering only the gesture
ôté de la flamme elle lisait fumait
le vent s’arrache de la langue maternelle exprime tout
wind wrenches free her tongue
every being constitutes a probe employed in a new direction
Acknowledgments
Princeton Series of Contemporary Poets

Citation preview

I entered without words

Princeton Series of Contemporary Poets Susan Stewart, series editor For other titles in the Princeton Series of Contemporary Poets see the end of this volume.

I entered without words poems

jody gladding

Princeton University Press Princeton and Oxford

Copyright © 2022 by Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is committed to the protection of copyright and the intellectual property our authors entrust to us. Copyright promotes the progress and integrity of knowledge. Thank you for supporting free speech and the global exchange of ideas by purchasing an authorized edition of this book. If you wish to reproduce or distribute any part of it in any form, please obtain permission. Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to [email protected] Published by Princeton University Press 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TR press.princeton.edu All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Gladding, Jody, 1955– author. Title: I entered without words : poems / Jody Gladding. Description: Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2022. | Series: Princeton series of contemporary poets | Text in English, with some poems translated into French on facing pages. Identifiers: LCCN 2021053680 (print) | LCCN 2021053681 (ebook) | ISBN 9780691238951 (hardback) | ISBN 9780691238968 (paperback) | ISBN 9780691238975 (ebook) Subjects: BISAC: POETRY / General | POETRY / Women Authors | LCGFT: Experimental poetry. Classification: LCC PS3557.L2914 I15 2022 (print) | LCC PS3557.L2914 (ebook) | DDC 811/.54­—dc23/eng/20220124 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021053680 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021053681 British Library Cataloging-­in-­Publication Data is available Editorial: Anne Savarese and James Collier Production Editorial: Ellen Foos Text and Jacket/Cover Design: Pamela L. Schnitter Production: Erin Suydam Publicity: Jodi Price and Carmen Jimenez Copyeditor: Jodi Beder Jacket/Cover Credit: Nene Humphrey, Ménerbes 91909, ink, pastel on paper. This book has been composed in Adobe Garamond and Scala Sans Printed on acid-­free paper. ∞ Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents the mother tongue licked me into being  1 that mare sometimes appeared  2

l’eau se fait calme quelquefois  3

now silent becomes listen  4

have I attended the birds  5

la montagne reflète la blessure  6

swallows light in the open  7

what kind of quest is this  8

I like having nothing  9

guest bed  10

on this green live languages graze  11

morning in a fog  12

I still believe in the dark work of idleness  13

call it harvest  14

this heart of summer gleams  15

who is the girl I push so high  16

qui est la fille que je pousse si haut  17

messy eater  18

our young register damage in radiant flesh  19

je quitte la maison d’être en plein vent du ciel  20

unhinged I left the house to wind  21

in my sickness the sky kept spinning  22

what it means to be reduced  23

space is not matter  24

the poor hide what they can  25

who cooks for you awwwlll  26

ribs were the first rafters  27

your hand opens to wave  28

dark was the night cold was the ground  29

v

the stone vault singing  30

la chapelle en pierre chantant  31

that light out of darkness may rise  32

over your cities the grasses will grow  33

( ) an artist’s best friend is time boredom sway  37 is art the idling silence  38

à l’art aigu de roche et ange  39

merci pour ces très belles ratures  40

thank you for your very beautiful cross-­outs  41

why everything beautiful hurts  42

pourquoi toutes les belles choses piquent  43

lost in lit screens the readers with their books  44

look back at me my love belong here  45

last goose  46

dernière oie  47

a deficiency hollows places  48

out of nowhere snow  49

paper white  50

a stiff wind makes them more beautiful  51

la mort n’a pas arasé l’espérance de la neige  52

death has not eroded hope of snow  53

I seek the cold mountain spring  54

je cherche le motif glacé  55

to knock with gentle barbarism  56

trouver la porte frapper entrer  57

des herbes folles  58

wild grasses  59

the white flame sank offering only the gesture  60

ôté de la flamme elle lisait fumait  61

le vent s’arrache de la langue maternelle exprime tout 62

wind wrenches free her tongue  63

every being constitutes a probe employed in a new direction 64

vi

Note to Readers For these poems, through-­lines in bold offer a way in. Other words constellate around the through-­lines, and readers are free to move about the page as they please—­there is no right or wrong way to proceed. The poem opens into a three-­ dimensional space where things can happen simultaneously. And differently with each reading. For some poems, there are both English and French versions. These appear together as facing pages.

vii

I entered without words

I

entered without

words

for purple the

aster

mother tongue yellow deep

summer

center

licked star me

into

articulate being


!7

1

that taut serenity of water a mare can ripple I have never been calm only hugged the smooth flesh of her neck sometimes ready to fly this appeared to be quietude
 !8

2

la sérénité crispée de l’eau la jument se

fait frissonner

je n’étais jamais calme j’ai serré quelquefois la chair lisse de son encolure prête à voler ça ressemblait à la quiétude


!9

3

at my























a shrill







approach

call now a green branch s

i

l

e n

t r e a r

r

a n ge

shaking

d

that bird becomes

a show

l

i

s t

e n

of composes feathers itself


!10

4

either have

I a

been

redpoll

flock

out early

or

late

attended particularly

to the sharp-shinned hawk scattering

birds


!11

5

au soir la crête de la montagne engloutit le reste

du soleil

les hirondelles

reflètent sa lumière

tournent autour des murs de la ville à la recherche des blessures ouvertes


!12

6

toward

nightfall the mountain swallows the

last

flashing

of the sun

back its

light

circling the city walls in search of the

open

wounds
 !13

7

what my kind neighbor asks me

of

a question

along ticks this

path we share with deer
 !14

8

leaves dripping after

rain

I like out

my thoughts

here thin clouds

having

late crickets puffballs

nothing on moss to do with

!15

9

me


guest awakened at night

bolt upright

in wind a leaf settles back into leaf mold


!16

10

on

this

green our live stock exchange of

the

languages

commons shares wealth no one place wherein

so much give and take our words

graze
 !17

11

owns

another

morning in

the river

valley

waking early so much to do

heavy lifting wondering

why does

it fall

to

me
 !18

12

but I could still

believe

in the night

dark work

shifts

while

tides you of idleness washing have

up something

light! worth house

keeping
 !19

13

why not handpick call the berry it

goose

rose

all

chafer harvest leaves skeletonized

that can be gleaned

ground flat beneath

my thumb
 !20

14

in this my black

currants

heart full to bursting stung by

a hornet of

summer

gleams

my child lightning

storms never far off
 !21

15

whose playground is

this the

fig the

tree stinging

swings yes little girl in

bright

colors

I’ll

not

so

push

you

high ! higher !


!22

16

nettle

à

qui

est cette

aire de

jeu le

figuier l’ortie

brûlante

les balançoires oui petite fille aux couleurs vives que je peux te pousser

pas si

haut ! plus

!23

17

haut !


messy breakfast I chew through the cord devour the sac


!24

18

these small bells in many our young herds

tatooed

registers

rippling our

damage

infirms radiantly

their

flesh


!25

19

hors des gonds un volet bat je quitte la maison d’es fenêtres en plein vent

secouée

les feuilles

du chêne vert

frottées du ciel


!26

20

unhinged shutter banging

I left the house to

windows shaken through leaves blasted scrub

oak

sky

clean


!27

21

I lay amazed at how

in my all sickness

that could be the

sky

bed firmament

blue flax

kept

linen

thread

spinning


!28

22

the migrations

monarch

thin what vanishing it means point

stragglers

to

when

be refugees

habitat

reduced

flock

to deserts

safety

grow strength

smaller in numbers
 !29

23

why keeping an arroyo

this

wild

space my hand

open is a promise not

empty does

matter to hold rain
 !30

24

all

suspect

clothing

must

a single the

poor

leather

be

burned

from

one

epidemic

hide jacket

passed to

another

what for

warmth

they around a

lit

trash can fire
 !31

25

gather

who















is that



a barred owl call cooks for

mid-day cooks you a scrap of meat

saying

for taxol dripping into a vein

pellet of fur and bone

thank you thank you

a to the chemo nurse who brings

w w

a warm l l blanket 


!32

26























this tortoise shell

suggests

capsized how

ribs to

turn

were back

to

the

first shelter

rafters

sky


!33

27

thousands of years before

was

your hand I too rough opens over abraded

basalt

my scar

to

a petroglyph wave


!34

28

dark

who will speak for us cold Blind

of earth Willie Johnson was

the ground song humming and moaning ranges beyond night our

solar system
 !35

29

in the winter stone chapel white

monks pressed tongue

against the vaulted roof of

the mouth singing
 !36

30

dans la chapelle les moines d’hiver blancs

se pressent la langue contre la voûte en pierre

palatine

chantant


!37

31

that

simple lightning out of

les ténèbres

un éclat

complicated darkness de tonnerre may the sound rise of

thunder

one hand

clapping!
 !38

32

taking over we

rode corners your

cities bikes

storm too

drains

fast the

serrated

cinder

grasses blocks will growing up through asphalt skinned

our knees
 !39

33

(

)

!41

an empty room

an artist’s best

friend does not always is

how allow time fail pleas

ure

for boredom differ the artist

given

on any morning

I might have said

to

sway enter
 !43

37

this art they honed of

sidling

up

to

their

muses & angels

rusted knives silence
 !44

38

voilà les poetes qui aiguisent l’art

de

s’approcher de biais leurs

couteaux des

muses et anges rouillés
 !45

39

















ce qui



affleure merci pour

ce sont les couches très

belles

“ratures” profondeurs

votre lettre écriture des ruines
 !46

40

















what



surfaces thank you for are your sedimentation very beautiful thinking “cross-outs” depths strata

to write

of ruins


!47

41









why everything beautiful sunlight through

undergrowth

morning mist

rising in

!48

42

that cut


pourquoi toutes les belles choses la lumière du matin

à travers la pinède

la brume

qui

s’élève

!49

43

dans cette entaille


lost in all the

skyline glass and steel facades

little screens I love the readers brick buildings with

their fire books escapes
 !50

44

look back Eurydice

at me

steadies her phone to take

my love

the picture I

can’t be

says Orpheus

the old long

as he

story turns

goes here

a

way
 !51

45

no

t

he

r

last

to give myself

to

wind

over water now what to call

this way home
 !52

46

dernière

m’abandonner

au au-dessus de maintenant comment s’appelle chez nous cette

voie !53

47

l’eau

vent

with winter foreclosure

came

a

deficiency

of cold

hollows and still we

would take

sheltered

in

places

snow

banks


!54

48

this

news

it turns from out thin

air

of sharply so

now

you’re leaving where

here

me

colder

looking up snow

into

sparks the infinite white


!55

49

paper winter stretches

long

thin

stems

stars open


!56

50

a these winter grasses

stiff how

the

arcs

theyir

angled shadows

wind makes them

bend to

trace

the

task

in

is

which

more

snow

beautiful

!57

51

?


la mort n’a

pas

arasé comme le lichen je grimpe à

la montagne

l’espérance blanche de la neige


!58

52

death has

not eroded

like

lichen

I’ve clambered up the a mountain of

snow


!59

53

hopefulness

I

seek ice

the cold

shock and solitary

motive of

a mountain

from which

I

spring


!60

54

à la montagne

aiguë et solitaire je

cherche le

motif

la source

glacée

d’où

j’aurais

jailli


!61

55

to the

find

door

you

to

need

knock

a with gentle

barbarism

the

mountain

will let you in
 !62

56

pour la

trouver

porte on a besoin d’une volonté de frapper avec une

barbarie douce

la

montagne

vous

fera

entrer
 !63

57

des herbes ont

toutes ces formes

du désir

envie d’un autre jardin de prendre

au delà

de la barrière

racine entre les

pierres sèches


!64

58

wild all these forms desire for another

of

garden

to take

beyond

the barred gates

root between

dry walls


!65

59

stone

excised

by the white flame she smoked sank into

her book offering for heat only

the expiring

gesture
 !66

60

à côté de

la flamme blanche

elle s’enlisait son livre n’offrant de sa chaleur que le geste

fumait expirant


!67

61

échapper des menus propos le s’élance

vent

vers la porte

du village l’enfant s’arrache

de

la prise la

langue

maternelle

son hurlement s’exprime toute sauvage
 !68

62

escaping small

talk wind screams through

the child wrenches village free from her

mother

all tongue unbound
 !69

63

meaning

every being star dust

constitutes

a

probe

we

employed

mean to shine

a

new

direction


!70

64

Acknowledgments Deep thanks to the sources running through these poems: Ralph Angel, Roland Barthes, Bread & Puppet Theater, René Char, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Blind Willie Johnson, Anselm Kiefer, Gabriella Klein, Federico García Lorca, Laurie Sheck, Henry David Thoreau, Jean Valentine, Jessica Washburn. And deepest thanks to my readers: Jen Bervin, Elizabeth Deshays, David Hinton, Kate Linton. And to the Dora Maar House for the gifts of time and place. And to the following journals where these poems appear: Harvard Review: the poor hide what they can Leaping Clear: that mare sometimes appeared; now silent becomes listen; what kind of quest is this; I like having nothing Plant-­Human Quarterly: guest bed; wild grasses; des herbes folles Poetry International: space is not matter; look back at me my love belong here; in my sickness the sky kept spinning; thank you for your very beautiful cross-­outs Volt: lost in lit screens the readers with their books Washington Square Review: the mother tongue licked me into being is art the idling silence   is for Ralph Angel and Jean Valentine

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