Sunday, December 09, 2007

Bruuuuuce, and poem of the week

Rain and more rain, and cold. At least it isn't ice.

Yesterday I bought tickets to see Bruce Springsteen in Indianapolis in March. Only for Bruce would I spend an entire day's salary on one concert. I nabbed tickets the minute they went on sale; when I checked back later, everything except the high up balcony seats and the behind the stage seats were sold out. I'm going with a poet friend who loves him but has never seen him live. Boy, is she in for a treat! :)

* * * * *

Being


A letter is holy. A story
is holy hands reaching out into the world.
Birds come home
across distance I can't conceive

and live in their bodies.
Ash in the air. Every place I've been
is on fire with words.

One day
I throw away all my love letters
without noticing. Mountains

in the heart.
What belongs
to me? I leave the world
all the time. These arms, these

fingers, this tongue, these feet,
and their bent wings. I know
it will be dirt, the prayers

now in marrow will retake
earth. I will live inside whatever flies.
Burning, the brink of all things.


--Éireann Lorsung
from Music for Landing Planes By
(Milkweed Editions, 2007)


4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey:

Have fun at Springsteen. Call me a Midwesterner, but I do prefer John Mellenkamp.

Not that it has to be either-or.

Unknown said...

Bruce!!!! Have such fun! I considered spending a day's on Barbra...but I got cold feet. So sorry about it now.

Lovely poem - I've decided I really like Milkweed poets.

Brent Goodman said...

Stunning poem. Thanks for posting. Amazon here I come!

Anne Haines said...

Greg: You Midwesterner! :) I like Mellencamp too -- after all, he lives in the same town I do, so I think I'm required to -- but my Bruce-love goes back to high school days, before JM had even thought about recording an album.

PWADJ: I hardly ever regret spending money on a concert. Sometimes I just plain can't swing it, but it's one splurge I nearly always splurge on.

Brent: Hah! :) Let me know what you think of the book. I had it out from the library & will probably go buy my own copy now.