Micah‘s Friday love poem post got me thinking that it’s been some time since we’ve had a proper Thursday Love Poem feature here on The Dad Poet. If you’re a new visitor and don’t know what a Thursday Love Poem is, you can check out the original here. The feature is based on Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poem called “Thursday,” which goes like this:
AND if I loved you Wednesday,
Well, what is that to you?
I do not love you Thursday–
So much is true.And why you come complaining
Is more than I can see.
I loved you Wednesday,–yes–but what
Is that to me?
Basically, a candidate for the Thursday Love Poem feature is “not your grandmother’s love poem,” if it’s a love poem at all. Sometimes, like the original it’s based on, it’s an anti-love poem but at the very least a proper TLP does not approach the topic of romance in any way that you normally would expect. “Killing Mark” by Richard Blanco is a good, creative example.
For today’s feature, we have three poems from a reading by Mark Strand done 16 years ago, starting with “The Couple,” of which Mark says at the beginning of this video, “Something in me wishes this wasn’t my poem.”
Alas alas. Wow. Great way to start a bitter windy snowy Thursday in March. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very much disliked Strand’s poem. It felt cynical and false. Blanco’s is so much better, and he’s a fine reader as well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, I am still not sure what I think of it. But I do think Strand is wise to say that part of him wishes the poem wasn’t his. I was wondering if it was requested by the audience.
LikeLike