“That's the way it is with poetry: When
it is incomprehensible it seems profound, and when you understand it, it is
only ridiculous.”
– Galway Kinnell
Born in Rhode Island on this date in 1927, Kinnell (who died in 2014) authored 19 books of poetry and won both the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for his writing.
He was best known for poems
that connect “daily life experiences” to “the full human experience.” Fellow writer and critic Robert Langbaum
observed in the American Poetry Review that “at a time when so many
poets are content to be skillful and trivial, [Kinnell] speaks with a big voice
about the whole of life.” For Saturday’s
Poem, here is Kinnell’s,
Crying
Crying only a little bit
is no use. You must cry
until your pillow is soaked!
Then you can jump in the shower
and splash-splash-splash!
Then you can throw open
your window
and, "Ha, ha! ha ha!"
And if people say, "Hey,
what's going on up there?"
"Ha ha!" sing back, "Happiness
was hiding in the last tear!
I wept it! Ha ha!"
is no use. You must cry
until your pillow is soaked!
Then you can jump in the shower
and splash-splash-splash!
Then you can throw open
your window
and, "Ha, ha! ha ha!"
And if people say, "Hey,
what's going on up there?"
"Ha ha!" sing back, "Happiness
was hiding in the last tear!
I wept it! Ha ha!"
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