'The music of words'

 

“You have your identity when you find out, not what you can keep your mind on, but what you can't keep your mind off.” – A. R. Ammons

 

Born in North Carolina in February of 1926, Ammons was a writing professor at Cornell University where he also authored hundreds of poems up until his death in 2001.  Ammons’ Collected Poems, 1951–1971 won a National Book Award, and his Selected Poems is an excellent introduction to his works  

                  

“Poetry," Ammons said, “is the music of words.”  For Saturday’s Poem, here is Ammons’,

 

Eyesight

                                                                   It was May

before my attention

came to spring and 

 

my word I said

to the southern slopes

I've 

 

missed it, it

came and went before

I got right to see: 

 

don't worry, said the mountain,

try the later northern slopes

or if 

 

you can climb,

climb into spring: but

said the mountain 

 

it's not that way

with all things, some

that go are gone