Harmony of the Spheres: The Second Poetry Carnival

Welcome to the second Poetry Carnival, hosted at Siris! Siris is named for Bishop Berkeley's philosophical work, Siris, whose title is an Anglicization of the Greek word sireis, meaning "chain." Berkeley summarized the argument of Siris in his poem On Tar. I wrote a brief commentary on the poem here. I've decided to give the Carnival a theme from Dante's Paradiso.

April is National Poetry Month, so in addition to the submitted and nominated entries, I've added a few posts celebrating this occasion. For those who are interested, by the way, someone has set up a weblog explicitly for National Poetry Month. It is called the poet in you. The idea is that you send (snailmail) your original self-expressive poems and it gets put up on the weblog. Details are here.

[Planetary glyphs are from Astrografx; the star glyph is from Spot's Free Graphics; the angel glyph is from Bible Doctrine News. Poetry Carnival button provided by Wesley English, a.k.a the punk of poetry.]
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THE SPHERE OF THE MOON
The Inconstant and the Angels

Bitch Ph.D. posts a translation of Nobel Laureate Wislawa Szymborska's poem, "Lot's Wife," at My contribution to poetry month at XX (Cross-posted at her own weblog.) It includes a link to the author's biography.


THE SPHERE OF MERCURY
The Seekers of Glory and the Archangels

William Meisheid at Beyond the Rim has a poem on the death of Hunter Thompson, A Life in the Key of Lost:

We strain and strive to find our place
Within the span of time and space
Some choosing to live the examined life
Others seeking to avoid the strife
Yet all appraised by someone, somewhere

THE SPHERE OF VENUS
The Lovers and the Principalities

Ron Stewart at Northern 'burbs gives us a poem on the nature of love in I do not choose to love thee:

I do not choose to love thee because you are beautiful,
Although a thousand fields of a thousand flowers are vile in comparison.
I do not choose to love thee because of your smile,
Although a thousand galaxies with a thousand suns could ne'er shine so bright.

William Meisheid of Beyond the Rim reflects on how he would grieve at his wife's passing, in Love and Death:

Remember me as I remember you
Through love and death
My heart is true

THE SPHERE OF THE SUN
The Wise and the Powers

For National Poetry Month, Rana at Frogs and Ravens posts Conrad Aiken's "Morning Song of Senlin" in Tilting.

One of the excellent nominated posts was On Poetics at Poetry in the Afternoon:

Yes, I know that someone
when all’s said and done is wrong. I just hope it might
be Aristotle, because there’s nothing between us and history.

THE SPHERE OF MARS
The Warriors and the Virtues

New Patriot posts Allen Tate's Aeneas at Washington for National Poetry Month.


THE SPHERE OF JUPITER
The Just and the Dominions

At Obsidian Wings, hilzoy celebrates National Poetry Month by posting Carl Dennis's "Just Deserts" in Poetry: Justice. The comments are worth reading, too.

From Feministe, also celebrating National Poetry Month, posts Langston Hughes's "Children's Rhymes" in Poetry.

If you want a prose break at this point, you can read an article on Political Verse in Late Georgian Britain. (Hat-tip: EMN)

And at Early Modern Notes for Women's History Month, Sharon posted a selection from Mary Collier's 1739 correction to the poet Stephen Duck, The woman's labour.


THE SPHERE OF SATURN
The Contemplatives and the Thrones

One of the most interesting nominations we had this time around was Signal Fire from McCarty Musings:

No, I knew you were saying,
"Last night, alone, I heard the stars sing,
and I thought I would die from joy."
And "The lamp of God is dim today,
but still, my heart can love him, and him only."

Another name for the choir of angels called the "Thrones" is "Ophanim" or wheels. Since the the Thrones are associated with the Contemplative Souls, my poem, The Conversion of Ramon Lull seemed a fitting one for this sphere:

The lights were shining strangely
in the darkness that was fallen
on the mountain on the day
when Raymond saw the wheels

THE SPHERE OF FIXED STARS
The Cherubim

Sally of The Sleeper Car gives us North Star for November:

As long as I can remember
You have argued with August
And whispered to the winter
While I wander on the edge of the night
And stop to hear you closer
And for a small moment in
May

THE PRIMUM MOBILE
The Seraphim

Seraphim, of course, are the Fiery Ones, so for National Poetry Month it is fitting to have this fire-themed contribution fromEmily Dickinson at the tattered coat.

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And that wraps up this edition of the Poetry Carnival. If you want to contribute a late submission, send it right in and I'll put it up as time permits.

If you are interested in hosting a future Poetry Carnival, contact Andrew Nichols.