blurt it out
as
in the case of the country
you
were brought up to love
words
sink like stones
in
the well of the heart
and
one day
the
world
goes
without saying
still
billions of years till then
still
time to mean all that you must
to
get the phrasing right
blurt
it out
words
on their death beds
will
squeeze a last breath
out
of the healthy animal
not really sure if this fits in godsbother
ReplyDeletebut
I am interested in pursuing nationalism as a kind of religious fervour or as blindspot limit to thought modelled on those provided by religion ...
a kind of a broaden the scope but narrow the focus problem
centering on the question --
what is the phenomenon here?
Is the poem gesturing towards a global perspective and timeframe that transcends and far exceeds nationalism? I see nationalism in the first stanza, then perhaps the consequences in the second stanza, then the poem zooms out to a different perspective. It might just be a result of the zeitgeist, but I see the line "still billions of years till then" as immensely hopeful. Trump won't rule forever!
ReplyDeletenationalism is self-eternalizing -- this is the first order of its bullshit
ReplyDeleteor should I say intellectual weakness
ReplyDeleteI like the gradual broadening out to macro perspective and the final stanza is incredibly powerful.
ReplyDeletehey this is an opportunity to advertise my book on National Anthems
ReplyDelete- Anthem Quality
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/A/bo15571948.html
I can send you a pdf if yr keen.... shhhhh!
ReplyDeleteKit, I would love a copy. I'm currently teaching a course on nationalism and literature. We read Gellner last week and are on Anderson this week.
ReplyDelete