LOUISE GLUCK, (Pronounced Glick My keyboard doesn't have an umlaut to put over the U), has been awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.
Louise Gluck has been awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. In making the announcement, the committee: “praised her minimalist voice and especially poems that get to the heart of family life”. I add in my own voice that she often times get just a little too close to the heart, many of the poems are not easy to read; it is not easy to admit the reality that she speaks of. The word melancholy comes to my mind in so much of her poetry. I first met Louise Gluck on the bookshelves of Eliott Bay bookstore in the mid 1990’s. I have come to appreciate her words more, 30 years later and 20 years into a new centuryThis piece is from her collection of poetry Ararat published in 1990
CHILDREN
COMING HOME FROM SCHOOL
1.
If you live in a city, It’s
different: someone has to meet
the child at the bus stop. There’s a reason. A child all alone
can disappear, get lost, maybe
forever.
My sister’s daughter wants to walk
home alone; she thinks she’s
old
enough.
My sister thinks its too soon for
such a big change;
the best her daughter gets
is the option to walk without
holding hands.
That’s what they do; compromise,
which anyone
can manage for a few blocks. My niece gets one hand
totally free; my sister says
if she’s old enough to walk this way,
she’s old enough
to hold her own violin.
