Charles Simic (1938-2023)

hayden

Well-known member
May he rest in peace :(

A poet I hope everyone here has read at least one collection by. If you have yet to, I recommend these three works—

Walking the Black Cat
The World Doesn't End
My Noiseless Entourage

I've been meaning to read Dime-Store Alchemy, but haven't gotten around to it.

Wasn't quite expecting this news. I think we've deduced he was shortlisted for the Nobel not too long ago.
 

Ben Jackson

Well-known member
So unfortunate we have lost such a great poet. I read his Selected Poems published in 2016/2017 I think around 2021 and was amazed at the depth of surrealistic, lyrical output. When I looked up at the Nobel Library in 2020, his checked books was the highest alongside Gluck and Anne Carson. With his demise, we have lost a truly universal poet.
 
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Leseratte

Well-known member

Against Winter​

by Charles Simic​

Charles Simic
The truth is dark under your eyelids.
What are you going to do about it?
The birds are silent; there's no one to ask.
All day long you'll squint at the gray sky.
When the wind blows you'll shiver like straw.
A meek little lamb you grew your wool
Till they came after you with huge shears.
Flies hovered over open mouth,
Then they, too, flew off like the leaves,
The bare branches reached after them in vain.
Winter coming. Like the last heroic soldier
Of a defeated army, you'll stay at your post,
Head bared to the first snow flake.
Till a neighbor comes to yell at you,
You're crazier than the weather, Charlie.

 
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