
Featuring 35 of his poems selected and introduced by Méira Cook, I'm hardpressed at this point to decide what I liked more: the unexpected metaphors, the wit, the natural language, the nature imagery, the humility? I'd say all of the above, but even his poetry is more than a sum of it's parts. It's hard not to look at his poetry the way he looks at the world and you'll have to read it to know what I mean but I think it has something to do with faith, and not necessarily in a religious way.
Some Functions of a Leaf
by Don McKay
To whisper. To applaud the wind
and hide the Hermit thrush.
To catch the light
and work the humble spell of photosynthesis
(excuse me, sir, if I might have one word)
by which it's changed to wood.
(Read the rest here.)
And here's my attempt to capture my feelings toward his poetry:
A Body Is A Poem Is A Body
by John Mutford
Don McKay has the ability
to find the mundane in Nature
and make us believe
what we have always believed:
that there is more
to a snail than slime and shell
to a tree than leaves, trunk, and roots
(And if He can do that
just imagine what
he can do with a body.)
3 comments:
Love this post! Thanks for the intro to Don McKay. Enjoyed the poem you shared as well as your own :).
A poem about another poet. You don't see too many of those, but it seems the perfect way to introduce a poet you admire to the rest of world. So I'm with Jama--thanks for the introduction to McKay. I'm going to think of leaves as "applauding the wind" now.
I like Don McKay's work as well, but must say I am really impressed by your own tribute. Quite apropos!
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