Meditation: On Labor

A few poems about work and labor:

"You spent so many years trying to find
the end of the day, the close of the shop,
when the work goes back in the box...."

--"Work" by Saskia Hamilton

"Pangur Bán and I at work,
Adepts, equals, cat and clerk:
His whole instinct is to hunt,
Mine to free the meaning pent...."

--"Pangur Ban" trans. by Seamus Heaney

"The war continues working, day and night.

It inspires tyrants

to deliver long speeches

awards medals to generals

and themes to poets..."

--"The War Works Hard" by Dunya Mikhail

....and one for SKGR:

--"You Begin" by Margaret Atwood

Photo credit: D. James

Comments (2)

Saskia was my professor at Columbia--she taught poetry at Barnard. She is great. Thanks for the reminder to read her work.

posted by Carla on 2006-09-03 17:32:50

These poems are wonderful. I especially enjoyed Heaney's translation of 'Pangur Ban.' (I'm a HUGE fan of his.) The translation is so densely packed. Each word does so much work... so much beautiful work.

In 2 1/2 weeks I'm moving from a 1050 sf apartment to a 500 sf apartment. I'm nervous that I'm going to show up with my truck full of stuff, and my 4 friends, and find that I've misjudged everything. But this translation reminds me that there's beauty in economy, and expression in small spaces... and that I'll find some way to make it all work.

posted by Denise on 2006-09-04 17:12:06