Havana Stingy Brim, a week off, and two sorbet poems
July 6, 2007
I ‘m off to Youthwrite this weekend, for a week of teaching and playing……going to pick up the Havana Stingy Brim hat today... Just in time for the summer sun. Here are the last two Sorbet poems…And I’ll check in next weekend...This is a heavy hearted entry. Death is a very strange business.
undiscovered country
I shake his hand, look in his eyes
and that’s our goodbye – I nod my understanding.
One journey ends; another begins.
For him, the undiscovered country, for me,
learning how to let go with the same grace
I saw in his eyes.
"the Brahms ghazal"
Daughter picks a CD, asks if there are words. Yes, I say, but not English.
Now, she’s adrift in bed, listening to Brahms’ Requiem
– sleep learning German.
Children standing over a washed-up man, on a beach in northern Morocco.
A small girl pointing out into the ocean, shouting in Arabic: Dolphin! Dolphin!
The woman is blatantly pregnant – stands of the sidewalk and smokes
two cigarettes until, he, angry, walks up to her. I know, she snaps.
In Cuba, the photographer is embarrassed by her camera – its price amidst this poverty badgers her conscience. She decides to just take pictures
of walls.
The bottle sweats on the countertop – icy pale green Chardonnay –
her mouth waters.
In the new novel, I stop at a lazy, unfocused, awful sentence – I’m appalled
that I’m the one who wrote it – think about Hemingway and his shit detector.
7 Comments
1. Anita had this to say: Jul 08, 2007 ~ 16:49 ~ #
I’m sorry to hear of your heaviness, Thomas; this sadness and your grief. I hope during your time at Bragg Creek you spend time looking at the stars, musing. Say hello to things that flutter and buzz for me, and dip your fingertips in the river. Bring back a stone.
2. Kirsten had this to say: Jul 14, 2007 ~ 16:22 ~ #
Hello Mr. Beeeach,
I just wanted to thank you for being an amazing teacher at YouthWrite. I learned SO much from you and had a blast too.
You are an inspiration, and I’ll definitely be emailing you for story ideas.
Thanks again!!
Kirsten.
3. Elena Ray had this to say: Jul 15, 2007 ~ 02:12 ~ #
i love this poem. somehow, i don’t find it so sad but strangely alleviating.
4. Thomas Trofimuk had this to say: Jul 15, 2007 ~ 12:36 ~ #
I’m back from teaching/learning at Youthwrite, just outside of Bragg Creek, on the edge of the Rocky Mountains….My students started calling me Mr. Beeeeach on Tuesday…don’t know why…and kinda liked it. I have to say, this group of young writers worked hard in my class. They were awesome. Truly. I walked away, inspired and filled with energy…and with no small amount of hope for the future.
More about my class and Youthwrite later tonight.
Kirsten,
Thanks for your comments. Sometimes I don’t know if I’m getting through. I know your writing was really good, and your story got better and better near the end of the week.
Elena,
I look at the poem now, almost a week after he passed away, and I too find it almost comforting. I’m going to read it at his service on Tuesday.
Anita,
I dipped and breathed the river for you. I brought back three stones, grey with white speckles. And the stars were breathtaking. You were missed….
5. Jennifer had this to say: Jul 16, 2007 ~ 13:07 ~ #
Thanks for “Undiscovered Country”. As my sister enters her last days on this side, I wonder too if I will be able to display as much grace as she has. She smiles at me with depth and courage and apology in her eyes and I look away, ashamed that I can’t offer the same thing back to her. Or that I’m ill-prepared to say goodbye. Or that sometimes I think she is the lucky one.
6. Thomas had this to say: Jul 16, 2007 ~ 14:03 ~ #
Jennifer,
I’m sorry to hear this. It’s a painful thing to let go. To watch as those we love let go. No matter how you frame it, no matter what words are spoken, no matter what rituals undertaken, it hurts.
Namaste
T.
7. Morgan, Version 'S' had this to say: Jul 17, 2007 ~ 19:41 ~ #
I’m not sure why ‘Mr. Beeeeeeach’ was on the top of the board, either. Who wrote it there?