Comments on: Inheritance

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 07 May 2007 21:03:17 +0000

Hi all – Thanks for visiting. I really appreciate the feedback.

Jennifer – I was afraid this poem might make other family members react with horror. I’m glad you found a few things here that resonated with you.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sun, 06 May 2007 15:28:55 +0000

Hm. Interesting. I like the images–and the stalactite nose made me laugh because it fit so perfectly with the cave and with real-life Pop. But any real interpretation is muddled with my own memories, of course! The Pop-pop of my memory seemed larger-than-life, and it is his voice I remember most vividly. So the first lines are sharp, arresting, fascinating…but, oh, so sad.

By: SquareTraveler

SquareTraveler — Sat, 05 May 2007 12:35:41 +0000

This is an excellent piece of work, authentic and natural .

By: blondie

blondie — Sat, 05 May 2007 08:29:33 +0000

Like gautami, I too was compelled to read your poem twice. Such a deep and moving piece that I felt drawn to remember my Pop, who died recently as “animation-less”. Loved the imagery – just beautiful.

By: gautami

gautami — Sat, 05 May 2007 05:17:28 +0000

I liked it so much that I read it twice. There are many layers in here. Sad to happy…

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 05 May 2007 00:52:34 +0000

Oh gosh, thanks for all the additional comments! I persist in feeling that this one is kind of ragged, but I’m glad to hear that it resonated with you all.

Fred – I’m not sure how we ended up in that mine, to be honest. I haven’t read the Fuentes story you mention, but I have read a bit about mesoamerican ideas of the underworld-afterlife, to which caves and certain springs were regarded as literal portals. I suppose something like that was going on in the dream.

Joan – In reality, Pop-pop declined fairly rapidly, and his last few days were painful before he slipped into a coma. But before that, he was a big talker – as most people in my family were (and are), on both sides. We’re not taciturn folk. So that made the dream that much odder.

It sounds as if you have a very vivid dreamlife.

By: Dick

Dick — Fri, 04 May 2007 21:13:23 +0000

A fine balance of the matter-of-fact & deeper resonances, Dave. With recent meditations on age still in mind, this struck a chord.

By: Joan

Joan — Fri, 04 May 2007 19:22:36 +0000

“Inheritance” juxtaposed with your previous poem â€œIn the Gardenâ€? is especially poignant. One man goes out with a bang, and the other gradually calcifies, with probably nary a whimper. The image of the door in one and the mine in the other is perfect. Liviu Librescu, if he’d had a choice, would probably have preferred it the way it happened. This new poem, however, reflects a lifestyle with which I’m more familiar. I come from cave and limestone mining country. I watched my elders, some of whom spoke little in the first place, slowly calcifying, from Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, or just gradual diminution of faculties. I still dream of them, years after they have passed and in the dream sometimes I sit and discuss with them what it was like for us when they died.

By: Rob Kistner

Rob Kistner — Fri, 04 May 2007 18:44:45 +0000

“My grandfather never died; he simply lost all animation.”

Great two lines! Engaging read.

…Rob

By: Fred Garber

Fred Garber — Fri, 04 May 2007 15:07:55 +0000

Dave, this poem is a real treat! I love the scene in the coal mine. I am particularly fond of such underground meetings. Tell me more about what was going on down there. I know you know! El Laberinto del Fauno(Pan’s Labarynth) had some great underground scenes. Carlos Fuentes wrote a short story called ” Reasonable People”. It was in Constancia and Other Virgins. In the story there is a scene that takes place in a cave at a construction site in Mecxico City. A bunch of cadaver like nuns…..Anyway I like underground scenes. And this one that you wrote is great!