One Art
Related Poem Content Details
The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.
Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.
I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.
—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.
She labels first to last:
ReplyDelete-door keys (material)
-an hour poorly spent (time)
-memory (?)
-mother's watch (material, symbolic)
-houses (financial, material)
-two cities (memories)
-rivers/continent (maybe a place of meditation/connectedness)
-loved one (person/love)
Purpose of the poem: irony....we lose things all of the time whether we know we are losing them or not- but the opposite is also true...at one point we also experienced things. Interesting- my yoga teacher mentioned today in class that one of the neuroscientists that she studied says that the brain is hard-wired to remember this loss. That loss plays a more important role on our memory than the flip side....
I read that, our ability to lose or forget is more of a gift than a curse. Also, most people return to their normal state of happiness even after extremely tragic events. So the art of losing isn't hard to master; in fact, it's programmed.
ReplyDeleteThe last stanza is perfect. It questions the whole poem and art. Not that it isn't easy, it is. Except when it isn't, then it's a disaster.
From your comment- "The art of losing is programmed" is SO INTERESTING....we can and do return while at the same time that loss engrains something...lingers...mold...shapes...in a way teaches us how to program back. With each loss we like to think the program gets, not necessarily easier, but I guess so...the grooves are already patterned.
ReplyDeleteIn yoga, these grooves are called samskaras or "habits" that cause waves on the surface of a lake...and it is through the quieting of the mind that these habits can surface and be seen- through meditation. Only when the waves are calm, the mind is calm, can "pure consciousness" be seen.