"In this language I have sought ... to write poems: so as to speak, to orient myself, to find out where I was and where I was meant to go, to sketch out reality for myself."
- Paul Celan
Image: woodcut of Celan by Dirk Hagner.
Friday, October 23, 2009
to speak, to orient
Image: woodcut of Celan by Dirk Hagner.
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Funny that I should come across your 'Blog' and find a quote by Paul Celan, as I was recently given a collection of his Poems. I had not before read any of Mister Celan's words and now I seem to see them everywhere.But I am not complaining. His words speak truth and I am liking this 'to speak, to orient'
ReplyDeleteI like this quote because so much of the general population sees poetry as flighty, rather than centreing or grounding.
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah, thanks for dropping by. :) It's funny how 'synchronicity' works sometimes... e.g. you hear a word or name for what you think is the first time, and then starts popping up everywhere.
ReplyDeleteMaxine: definitely. How language grounds us in a place, a present. How (perhaps) poetry can make us think and live ecologically? How the future is a poem?
that woodcut is wonderful, as is the idea of poetry (and all art, really) as a kind of mapmaking -
ReplyDeleteHi Jason,
ReplyDeleteYeah I like the map-making idea too.
A related quote from Celan: "Reality is not simply there, it must be searched for and won."