"The Deer" "Passion and Form"

.

 

시 Ama Codjoe의 "The Deer"와 Louise Glück의 "Passion and Form" 두 편을 "The Best American Poetry 2024" (Mary Jo Salter, guest editor)에서 건졌다. 이 책을 도서관에서 빌린 것은, 'BAP 2025'로 마감하는 BAP 시리즈에 대한

 

뉴욕 타임즈 서평: What Was Best About the 'Best American Poetry'?

를 읽고 나서다. (첫 호 'BAP 1988'을 'OK Poems 1988'로 부를 수는 없냐고 guest-editor John Ashbery가 물었다는 거며, Harold Bloom의 그 못된 짓(그리고 그런 인간성)에 대해서도 다시, 서평에서 읽을 수 있었다. 사실, Harold Bloom 편집 'The Best of the BAP 1988-1997'와 Adrienne Rich 편집 'BAP 1996'에 겹쳐 실린 저명 시인 서넛을 확인한 적이 있다. 그들의 시가 이쪽에 실린 것은 'the best of the best'에 속하고 저쪽에 실린 것은 시 같지 않은 거라니!)

 

 

 

          The Deer

                             Ama Codjoe

 

Walking alone in a forest, I came upon

a deer --- this was not a vision.

It faced me, on its four thin legs,

unmoved as a cave painting

brushed by light. I made myself still.

I spoke to it, softly. I can't remember

what I said. It regarded me as a god would,

transfixed by my astonishment.

Then, slowly, I moved closer, and the deer

did not run. By now, you know it was love

I walked toward, not the deer, but

what hung in the space between us. I know

it was love because, as I held

my breath, the deer took

a few steps toward me before

bounding into the camouflage

of branches and leaves.

 

     from The New York Review of Books

 

 

          Passion and Form

                                             Louise Glück

 

Ah, they have kissed!

The rhyme

Comes in unnoticed.

 

     from The Threepenny Review