Just attended a Tracy K Smith reading
www.thegateless.org
Just attended a Tracy K Smith reading
5/8/2023 it was simply lovely for contemporary poetry fans
Gates of Heaven “... a practical theology my poems help me construct” Tracy K. Smith Never trust a truth coming at us in full daylight, armored with spinning mirrors, claiming FEAR GLORY SUBMIT BE-ERASED Be your revolution from what the silence, night, and the gods before gods tell you, the quiet where your ancestors dwell, where our ancestors dwell, drink the dust spewed out by stars, be drunk on the microbiome, blackholes, tides quantum actions, the immense expanse in all 4 directions IN OUT MACRO MICRO Colonize yourself -- reject voices betting on the complacent heart, lead from the front lines of your own life, the marching Host behind you the sound of feet STAMPING ROARING SHAKING BREAKING The gates of someone else’s heaven
Some links from the Tracy K Smith Zoom reading I just attended:
https://poets.org/poem/single-womans-bedroom
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/145346/flores-woman
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/147469/the-united-states-welcomes-you
Much love,
Con/Jur/d, 5/8/2023
I feel compelled to share that I recently looked up the first part of my last name, Turge, and found a wiki article on a viking king who briefly conquered a bit of Ireland. During his reign he was married to a seeress. He had an Arab poet visit his court for a time. The wiki article for the poet revealed that he was known for being skinny and handsome, as well as a snippet of a poem about an illicit affair that he seems to have written for the queen. Pretty ballsy.
Returning to the article on the viking king, I found that eventually the king lost a battle against the forces of the High King of Ireland, and was drowned (I assume forcibly).
Purusing the article for that particular High King, I found that he died by drowning. Cross-referencing the articles, he died a year after the viking king. No discussion of karma, of course, and yet I couldn't help but imagine the spirit of the viking king following him doggedly until he could force the same end upon his rival in rule.
The Drama!
It doesn't really clear up anything about the origin of my last name, and yet it adds some interesting marginalia.